This is a request we receive more and more often: “Can we create a chatbot that understands our content?” or “How can we make our search engine smarter, more natural, and more relevant?”
And it's an excellent question, because behind it lies a real need: to help visitors—both internal and external—find information more easily, without having to navigate through dozens of menus or pages. This could be an intelligent search engine, a chatbot that understands natural language, or a contextual assistant integrated into an intranet, business portal, or public website.
What Drupal offers today
Thanks to recent developments around the Search API AI initiative—a project actively supported by the community—it is now possible to connect Drupal to open-source AI models to significantly enhance search and conversation capabilities based on site content.
In practical terms, this means you can configure a search engine or chatbot that:
- understands the intentions and natural language of your visitors (in French, Dutch, English, etc.),
- uses the structured content of your site (nodes, taxonomies, files, custom fields, etc.),
- intelligently ranks and weights results according to your rules,
- respects access rights, user roles, and publication statuses.
All this without leaving your Drupal environment and without sending your data to the cloud of a US-based proprietary platform.
An open source, local... and independent approach
And that's where Drupal comes into its own. Unlike many ready-made solutions offered by major commercial AI providers, Drupal and Search API AI rely on an open source, self-hosted approach. You can choose the language models you use (e.g., LLaMA, Aleph Alpha, Mistral, Claude, etc.), host them yourself, or use European providers that meet your security requirements.
This changes everything in terms of data sovereignty.
When you connect your business content to AI, you give it access to potentially sensitive information: product sheets, internal documentation, HR content, technical data, and even customer information. If you use a proprietary tool based in the United States, you have no control over where your data is transferred, how it is used, or what it leads to in terms of models. And even if these tools promise not to store or reuse content, it is often difficult to verify what is actually happening.
With Drupal + Search API AI, the approach is transparent, controllable, and ethical. You remain in control at every stage, from choosing the model to setting the rules for data exposure. You decide what the AI can see, how it can process it, and what it can return.
Very concrete and immediately useful use cases
Imagine an institutional website that offers a chatbot capable of answering citizens' common questions, based directly on the site's pages, FAQs, forms, and news—without having to create a parallel knowledge base.
Imagine an extranet that allows your employees to ask questions about your internal procedures, HR documents, and contract templates without having to navigate a complex tree structure.
Imagine a search that understands a question like “How do I apply for social assistance for a person over 65 with a disability?” and directs them straight to the right page, the right form, and the documents they need to provide.
All of this is possible, right here, right now. And without locking your data away in a black box.
What you need to get started
This type of interface naturally requires careful consideration of content structure, metadata quality, and information prioritization rules. But it's still Drupal, with the tools you know: Search API, Views, Taxonomy, Access control, etc.
The AI component complements this, like an intelligent assistant that rephrases, summarizes, classifies, or responds in natural language. And it can be introduced gradually: first to improve search relevance, then to enrich responses, and finally to offer a complete conversational interface.
At WebstanZ, we are already supporting clients in this direction. One is looking to transform its traditional search engine into a natural experience. Another is exploring the implementation of an internal conversational assistant on a document portal. In each case, we are moving forward step by step, respecting business challenges, technical constraints, and security requirements.
Useful, restrained AI from Europe
Integrating artificial intelligence into Drupal is not about following a trend. It is about responding to a clear need: facilitating access to information without sacrificing control. And this is possible thanks to a robust, extensible, and data-friendly open source foundation.
For organizations based in Europe—whether associations, public institutions, companies, or cooperatives—this approach is not only more aligned with the values of transparency and privacy, but it is also more resilient in the long term.
Let's talk about AI! Contact us!
KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER FROM THIS ARTICLE
- Drupal + Search API AI, ready to use: search engine and chatbot that understand natural language, rely on your structured content, and respect roles, access rights, and publication statuses.
- Open source and sovereign approach: hostable AI models (LLaMA, Mistral, etc.), total control over data and exposure rules — no black boxes or forced sending to proprietary clouds.
- Concrete use cases: citizen portal, HR extranet, intelligent FAQs, search that understands intent and directs users to the right page, form, or documents.
- Gradual implementation: start with Drupal (Search API, Views, Taxonomy, Access control), then add the AI component to improve relevance, enrich responses, and ultimately offer a conversational interface.
- WebstanZ at your side: step-by-step support, aligned with business needs and security, to transform a traditional search into a natural experience or deploy an internal conversational assistant.
- Useful, understated, European AI: easier access to information, preserved control, compliance, and long-term resilience for organizations in Europe.