ChatGPT is really smart, but it doesn’t have the specific context required to give accurate answers based on your personal circumstances or business. For example, when I ask it about rental law in New Zealand, it often gets things wrong - mixing up Australian law, other countries’ regulations, or completely hallucinating. This can be solved by adding specific knowledge to the AI that it can reference when answering questions.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to set up a custom AI chatbot for free with no code using Zapier’s free trial.
The Problem
Understanding New Zealand tenancy law is difficult - it’s a 257-page document with complex details. I wanted to make this easier by creating an interactive chatbot that can answer basic questions accurately, using the actual legislation as its knowledge source.
Setting Up in Zapier
Zapier offers a free trial with no credit card required. Sign up, navigate to the chatbot section, and create a new chatbot. I named mine “Tenancy Law Advisor NZ.”
Adding Knowledge Sources
The key step is adding specific knowledge. Go to the Knowledge section and upload the relevant document - in this case, the New Zealand tenancy law PDF downloaded from the official source. Zapier will process and break down the document into tokens that the AI can reference.
Configuring the System Prompt
The directive (system prompt) controls how the AI agent talks, responds, and behaves. Important rules to include:
- Always use the knowledge source, even if the AI thinks it knows the answer
- Prevent hallucinations by grounding responses in the uploaded documents
- Set a clear objective: “You are a Q&A AI bot tasked with helping users understand New Zealand tenancy law”
Testing and Validation
Once the knowledge is loaded, the chatbot automatically generates suggested questions based on its capabilities - things like explaining tenancy rights, addressing rent issues, and discussing termination processes. Always test to make sure it’s using the correct knowledge and not relying on external sources.
Sharing Your Chatbot
Zapier provides two options for sharing:
- Public link: A hosted chatbot URL that anyone can access and ask questions
- Embed code: HTML that you can integrate into your own website or application
Why This Approach Works
By providing specific, authoritative documents as the AI’s knowledge base, you eliminate the hallucination problem that plagues general-purpose AI tools. The chatbot gives accurate, sourced answers specific to New Zealand law rather than mixing in information from other jurisdictions. This same approach works for any domain - company policies, product documentation, industry regulations, or any other specialised knowledge.
