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AI Assist in FME FAQ

Dan Minney
Dan Minney
  • Updated

Introduction

In 2023.2, FME introduced the ability to use AI Assist to help build SQL Statements, Regular Expressions (RegEx), and Python scripts. In 2025.1, it also offers contextual suggestions and guidance directly within the authoring environment. AI Assist is ready and available to help you easily author your workspace. AI Assist delivers instant, reliable answers by drawing directly from trusted FME resources — including official documentation, FME Community discussions, Knowledge Base articles, and even the context of your workspace canvas.

This article answers all the frequently asked questions from our users, along with links to various how-to resources and more.

Key Capabilities

  • Contextual Code Suggestions: Offers in-context code generation within select transformers (e.g., Regex, SQL, and Python).
  • Conversational Guidance: A conversational interface that helps users understand, debug, and improve their workflows by referencing relevant Workspace Context. AI Assist enables users to retain and access their chat history across sessions, so they can revisit past conversations. Tying chat data to individual users improves continuity in problem-solving and the overall AI Assist experience.

FAQs

What is AI Assist?

AI Assist is a generative AI-powered tool, an in-product opt-in feature built into FME Form to enhance productivity by offering contextual suggestions and guidance directly in the authoring environment.

Where is AI Assist available in FME?

Currently, AI Assist is available in FME Form Workbench as parameters that support Regular Expressions, Python, and SQL, and as conversational guidance in a docked window. 

How do I access AI Assist?

AI Assist requires user consent after logging in with an existing free FME Account via a pop-up dialog before any data is transmitted to the AI service. 

AI Assist Conversational Guidance Window - Prompt for Log In

FME Account OAuth Window Opt-in User Consent Pop-Up Dialog

How does the AI Assist work?

AI Assist is a generative AI-powered tool. This means you can provide the AI with a prompt, and it will return a response relative to what you requested.

For example, you could ask AI Assist to generate a SQL statement using standard English - “Generate me a query that retrieves all the countries with over 1.5 million in population”. The AI Assist will then return a SQL statement that will query for the information you requested. For a more in-depth example, check out this article. 

Can AI Assist act on my behalf?

AI Assist can suggest actions, such as adding transformers and annotations, but will rely on the user to implement them by clicking “Add to Workspace”. 

What information does AI Assist send with my prompt?

AI Assist does not send customer data or actual data values to the service. Instead, it may use metadata associated with the user’s workspace to provide more relevant responses. Everything we send other than your prompt is called “Workspace Context” data. This includes elements such as bookmarks, annotations, and metadata about the data. Additionally, if "Send database schema to AI" is enabled, the database schema is included with the prompt.

For more information on Data Handling and Protection, see the whitepaper.

Where is my data stored?

The FME AI Server and its supporting databases are hosted on AWS in the United States. Conversation history and associated Workspace Context are stored in the FME AI Service Application Database and are retained until explicitly deleted by the user. Users can manage this data directly through the FME Form interface. For full data removal requests, please contact privacy at safe.com. Usage statistics related to code suggestions are stored in a separate database. This dataset is fully anonymized, not linked to any FME Account ID, and currently has no defined retention period.

Additional information is sent to third-party providers for the sole purpose of providing the AI Assist Service. Refer to the whitepaper for more details. 

Will our data be used to train the AI service?

Customer data is not retained in the AI model and will not be used to train the LLM. Only minimal metadata and conversation history are stored in the FME AI Service Application database. LangSmith is used internally solely to evaluate prompt and response quality, not for LLM training.

What AI Service does the AI Assist use?

The AI Service uses Microsoft/Azure OpenAI as the large language model provider. 

What Model does the AI Assist use? How often is the service & model updated?

AI Assist currently uses GPT-4o. We trial, evaluate, and perform quality assurance tests before using new services & models. The model may change at any time without notice. 

Can I provide my own API key and use a different model?

No, as of FME 2025.0, we have removed the option to use other APIs and your own key within AI Assist. AI Assist will now use Safe Software's AI model, which provides a reliable and consistent experience. 

If Safe Software updates the service, does it support older versions of FME?

Yes, updates to the service and model are implicit, meaning that older versions of FME will retrieve the latest available model. No FME version updates are required.

Can I provide feedback on AI Assist?

After clicking, you will receive a response in the AI Assist window, and you will have the option to click the thumbs up or thumbs down icon to provide feedback on the response. 

If you have more comprehensive feedback, please leave a comment in the AI Assist Community Megathread or contact support. If you have ideas on how we could improve AI Assist, please create a new Idea. 

How can I Enable/Disable AI Assist?

In FME Workbench, go to FME Options > Workbench > AI Assist Options and uncheck “Enable AI Assist.” "Allow Workspace contents to be used as AI Assist context" is controlled on a per-workspace basis.

For system administrators, starting in FME 2026.1, you can similarly enable and disable this setting at the machine level using administrative tools, like Windows Group Policy. With this approach, non-administrator users can't re-enable AI Assist from the FME Workbench UI. The method depends on your operating system - please see below. FME Workbench must be restarted after making the change.

Windows

A machine administrator can disable AI Assist in the Windows Registry. In the Registry Editor, navigate to \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safe Software Inc.\FME Workbench or create the key if it does not exist. Add the string entry Disable AI Assist and set the value to true.

Linux

A machine administrator (root) can disable AI Assist using a system-scope FME Workbench.conf configuration file.

Below is a command to create the conf file:

sudo mkdir -p "/etc/xdg/Safe Software Inc."
echo -e "[General]\nDisable AI Assist=true" | sudo tee "/etc/xdg/Safe Software Inc./FME Workbench.conf" > /dev/null

MacOS

A machine administrator can disable AI Assist using a system-scope preference file (plist).

Below is a command to create the plist file:

sudo defaults write "/Library/Preferences/com.safe-software-inc.FME Workbench.plist" "Disable AI Assist" -bool YES

How can I Disable Workspace Context Sharing?

In FME Workbench, go to FME Options > Workbench > AI Assist Options and uncheck “Allow Workspace contents to be used as AI Assist context.”

Disabling this option turns off context-sharing for chat while retaining access to the AI Assist UI. When toggled off:

  • The context label is removed from the AI Assist conversation window.
  • All context labels in related menus and toolbars are removed. 

How to Block Communication to the FME AI Service (Network-Level Control)

If your organization wants to prevent the usage of AI Assist globally, you can block all network communication with the FME AI Service by blocking the domain fme-ai-service.safe.com in your firewall settings. Please note that by using this method, FME Form UI elements will remain visible, but no data will be transmitted. 

Additional Resources

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As of January 14th, 2026, comments on knowledge base articles have been closed. To make sure questions don’t get missed and to enable more community support, we’ve moved discussions to the FME Community. If you have a question or a comment about this article, please create a new post or create a support ticket.