When should an AI assistant hand a conversation to a person?

By AI Bot Pro · Published 2026-10-18 · Last updated 2026-10-18

Short answer: Hand over when the customer asks for a person, repeats the same question, complains, asks about something the assistant was not given information for, or is about to make a commitment such as a price, a booking or a change. Hand over with the whole conversation, and keep the assistant quiet until a person says it may continue.

Good triggers

The customer asks for a person, in any words.
The same question is asked twice, a sign the answer did not help.
A complaint, or an upset customer.
A question outside the information the assistant has.
Anything about price, availability, bookings or changes to an agreement.
A sensitive or complicated situation.

What the person needs when they arrive

The whole thread, the form answers, what the assistant already said, and why it handed over. If staff have to ask the customer to start again, the handoff failed.

The rule that is easy to forget: stay paused

If an assistant keeps replying while a person is working on the conversation, the customer gets two voices and the person loses control. A good setup pauses the assistant when staff step in and only restarts it when staff say so.

How Susan handles it

When your team takes over a conversation, Susan pauses. She continues only after a staff member explicitly resumes her. Susan answers from the information a business provides, does not promise live inventory, calendar booking or automatic quotes, and leaves availability and commitments to your team.

Susan is in private beta, and automatic replies and email delivery are currently paused.

Test it before you trust it

Try the phrases customers really use: "can I talk to someone", "cancel my order", "this is the second time I am asking". Each should stop the assistant and reach a person.