# Handoff and escalation

> How conversations move between the AI and your team, when the AI escalates to a person, what you see when it does, and how to give control back.

Source: https://docs.message24.net/owners/ai/handoff-and-escalation/

The AI and your team work in the same conversations. Each conversation has a mode that decides whether the AI may reply, and the AI hands a conversation to your team whenever it shouldn't answer on its own.

## Conversation modes

At the top of every conversation in the [inbox](/owners/daily/inbox/) there are three buttons: **Auto**, **AI** and **Human**. The highlighted one is the conversation's current mode.

| Mode | What happens when the customer writes |
| --- | --- |
| **Auto** | The system decides. The AI waits for the delay set in the channel's schedule. If someone on your team replies in that time, the AI stays out. If nobody does, the AI takes over and the conversation switches to **AI**. |
| **AI** | The AI replies to each new message without waiting for your team. |
| **Human** | The AI never replies. The message waits for your team. |

New conversations start in **Auto**. The delay for open hours and after hours is set per schedule under **Settings > AI Settings**. See [What the delay does](/owners/ai/ai-settings/#what-the-delay-does).

A channel with no schedule never gets AI replies, whatever the mode.

## Take over a conversation

You can reply in any conversation at any time.

- **In Auto**, replying before the delay runs out keeps the AI out of that message.
- **In AI**, replying moves the conversation back to **Auto**. This includes replies sent from Message24 (typed or with a shortcut) and replies sent directly in the platform's own app, such as Instagram or WhatsApp Business. The AI then waits for the delay again on the customer's next message.
- To keep the AI out of a conversation entirely, select **Human**. The conversation stays in **Human** after you reply, until you change it.

## Give control back to the AI

Select **Auto** to let the AI step back in after the usual delay, or **AI** to have it answer straight away. If the customer's last message hasn't been answered, selecting **AI** makes the AI reply to it now.

## When the AI escalates

Escalating means the AI stops, switches the conversation to **Human**, and alerts your team. From then on the customer's messages wait for a person.

The AI is instructed to escalate when:

- Your knowledge base says a situation should go to a person, for example returns, warranty claims or order tracking.
- It doesn't have the information to answer and would otherwise have to guess.
- A customer asks the price of a product marked as price on request.
- Every option of a product the customer wants is out of stock.
- A customer is hostile: abusive language, accusations of cheating or fraud, or visible anger.
- A customer asks it to remind them later, which it can't do.
- Your catalog is set up as a partial list and the customer asks for something that isn't in it.

Message24 also escalates on the AI's behalf when:

- A reply states a price that can't be verified against your catalog or knowledge base. The reply is not sent.
- The AI repeatedly fails to produce a usable reply.

## What you see when the AI escalates

- **In the conversation**: a line reading "AI escalated to human agent" (worded differently for price-on-request products) with the reason underneath, for example "customer wants to negotiate a discount on AG Jamana chair". The mode switches to **Human**.
- **In the inbox list**: the **Escalated** filter shows only escalated conversations, so nothing gets lost.
- **Notifications**: an **Escalations** notification in the bell icon and as a push notification on the mobile app, if you have it turned on. Opening it takes you to the conversation. See [Notifications](/owners/daily/notifications/).

While a conversation is in **Human**, each new customer message sends a **New Messages** notification ("Messages on conversations not handled by AI"), if that notification is turned on.

## After you've handled it

1. Reply to the customer.
2. When the matter is settled, select **Close** to close the session. This clears the **Escalated** mark.
3. If the AI should handle this customer again, select **Auto** or **AI**. Closing the session doesn't change the mode, so an escalated conversation stays in **Human** until you do.

:::tip
If the same kind of question keeps getting escalated, the AI is probably missing information. Add or improve a [knowledge base article](/owners/ai/knowledge-base/) and test the question in **Try out your AI**. If you want those questions to always go to a person, say so in an article instead.
:::

## Automations and handoff

A matching [automation](/owners/ai/automations/) answers a message regardless of the conversation's mode, including **Human**. If you don't want an automation to reply to customers your team is handling, narrow it with conditions or limit how often it runs.