Who replies: the AI or your team
How to decide in each conversation whether the AI agent or someone on your team replies, what happens when you reply from the panel or from the WhatsApp Business app, and how to hand the conversation back to the AI.
In the product: Inbox & CRM →
In each conversation in the inbox, you decide who answers: the AI agent or a person on your team. The control is at the top of the conversation and is called Who replies, with two options: AI replies and I reply.
AI replies
This is the normal mode when your agent is on. The agent answers with your business information and follows its workflow. You can read everything in real time.
I reply
Choose I reply when you want to handle the conversation yourself. You’ll see You took control of the conversation. From that moment, the AI stops answering in that conversation and doesn’t come back on its own: it stays stopped until someone chooses AI replies again.
If you type in the panel while the AI is replying, the panel warns you: Sending a message puts you in control. When you send it, the conversation switches to I reply.
In the conversation list, an orange person icon marks the conversations your team is handling.
If you reply from the WhatsApp Business, Instagram, or Messenger app
You can also answer from your phone. When you send a message from the WhatsApp Business app (on the same connected number), from Instagram, or from Messenger, the AI steps aside from that conversation for 15 minutes so it doesn’t talk over you. Each message you send restarts the 15 minutes. After that, the AI picks back up on its own.
This also applies if the conversation was on I reply: a message from the app changes the pause to 15 minutes. If you want to keep handling it yourself, choose I reply again in the panel.
WhatsApp templates
Sending an approved WhatsApp template from the panel does not take control. If you don’t want the AI to answer the customer’s reply, choose I reply before you send it.
When a customer asks to talk to a person
If a customer asks for a person, the agent logs the request, leaves a note in the conversation, and emails the business owner. This doesn’t stop the AI. To have the AI stop replying while your team handles it, choose I reply in that conversation.
The notice goes to the account owner’s email.
Turn off the agent completely
To have an agent stop replying in all its conversations, turn it off with the On toggle in My Agents. Read Turn the agent on and off.
Who can change it
People with the Viewer role can read the conversation, but they can’t change who replies. People with the Agent role only see unassigned conversations and the ones assigned to them. Assign the conversation to whoever is going to handle it so the rest of the team knows who’s on it.