Cultural intelligence inside the AI you already use.
Beta
This offering is in development. We are building it now and will open it first to a small number of people and teams. If you would like to be among them, write to John Magee at john.magee@understand-culture.com.
What it is
You probably already use an AI assistant at work, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot.
You can connect it to UC. From then on, when you ask your assistant something that involves more than one culture, it can retrieve UC’s research and answer from it.
The expertise comes to you, inside the tool you already use.
This offer suits people who want UC’s research inside their AI assistant. If you want to work mainly with the advisor on the site, see On This Site.
How you set it up
You register on UC. Your account page shows you one web address. In your assistant, you open the settings, add a connector and paste in the address. Your AI assistant then asks you to sign in to UC and to allow the connection.
If you can add connectors yourself, this takes about two minutes, and you do it once.
In some companies, an administrator must add UC first. This applies to Claude Team and Enterprise plans. In Microsoft Copilot, a specialist usually sets up UC once for the company. Each colleague then signs in to UC once.
How it works
You are an American who has prepared a presentation for a decision-maker in Germany. You ask your assistant to critique it.
Your assistant sees that the question involves an interaction between an American and a German. It asks UC for the research once for Germany and once for the United States, on the topic of persuasion.
UC sends back the research for each country and a link to the pages it comes from. Your assistant writes its answer from that research. It explains how each side sees the situation, and it includes the links. If you want to read the analysis and the evidence, you click.
A question can also involve more than one topic. Your AI assistant then asks UC once for each country and each topic.
If UC does not cover a country or a topic, it says so. Your assistant can then tell you that its answer does not come from UC’s research.
Why it helps
An AI left to its training guesses. It repeats the etiquette tips and the stereotypes it has seen most often, and it agrees with the view you bring to it.
When it has UC’s research, your assistant answers from a systematic body of research instead of guessing. The links show you where each answer comes from, and they show the evidence where it exists.
What it covers
For Germany and the United States, researchers gathered the information. We did the analysis and formulated the statements.
Examples from different areas of each society support every statement. Some of this evidence comes from my researchers, and the rest comes from the AI Claude.
For the other 63 countries, Claude did the analysis and formulated the statements under my instructions, using the same framework.
The statements are systematic and consistent, but most of these countries do not yet have evidence under them. India now has evidence from Claude. China is next.
As revenue allows, we will bring more of the major countries to the level of Germany and the United States: human-led research, assisted by AI. More on how we do the research is on the Research page.
What you also get
Your account also gives you full access to UC on the site. You can read all of the research under Countries, with the evidence where it exists. You can also ask the culture advisor on the home page up to 20 questions per month.
You pay only for the calls your assistant makes to UC. Reading on the site and asking the advisor are not charged as calls.
What your assistant sends
Each time your assistant asks UC for research, it sends two pieces of information, one country and one topic. It does not send your question, your messages or your documents. What you write stays with you.
UC records the country, the topic and the time with your account, so that it can charge for the call.
Many AI assistants show you each call to UC and what it sent, so that you can check this yourself.
For one person or a team
You can connect for yourself. You open your own account on UC, pay by card, and see your own use on your account page. You can also pay with a company credit card and claim the cost as a business expense.
Or your manager can open a team account, pay for it and invite you and your colleagues. Each colleague then connects their own assistant. The calls are charged to the team account, and the manager sees the total use.
A small team can start with a company card. If your company requires a supplier review or a contract, we will work with you on it.
What it costs
You pay 0.25 euros for each call your assistant makes to UC. A typical question leads to two or more calls, so it costs about 0.50 euros or more.
The minimum is 150 euros per user per year, which equals 600 calls. This includes full access to UC on the site.
At the end of each quarter, you pay whichever is higher: what your calls actually cost, or the minimum for that quarter, which is 37.50 euros.
There is no upfront payment. Your account page shows every call, what it cost, and your receipts.
Each person can make up to 300 calls per day. This protects you if an assistant makes calls by mistake.
For your IT department
Many companies decide which connectors employees may add to the company’s AI assistant. If yours does, your IT department may need to approve UC first.
UC connects through MCP, the Model Context Protocol. MCP is the standard way for AI assistants to connect to outside sources. The connection only reads, and each user signs in to UC. The details are on How the connection works.