Observed queries
An observed query is a search string explicitly surfaced by an assistant's web-search interface, or the disclosed Google Search seed exception. The browser adapter must find it inside a search-specific UI container. Generic conversation text is never eligible.
If a provider changes its interface and the adapter loses that explicit boundary, collection fails closed.
Estimated queries
An estimated query is generated only after a user asks for fan-out ideas. Open Queries uses the corresponding provider model and evaluates evidence from that same provider. OpenAI exposes native token log probabilities; the current Gemini and Claude endpoints are estimated through repeated native samples because they do not expose usable output logprobs.
The score is useful for ordering candidates within a run. It is not a claim that the original assistant issued the query.
A hard storage boundary
Estimated candidates are not inserted into observed-query donation events or demand aggregates. This keeps exploration useful without manufacturing market evidence.