Human-AI Conversation Control helps your team work alongside AI agents in Inbox. You can see which conversations are currently being handled by AI, step in when a human response is needed, resume the AI agent afterward, or end an AI session.
With Human-AI Conversation Control, you can:
- View conversations with live AI sessions in one place.
- See whether an AI agent is active or on standby.
- Take over a conversation by replying to the customer.
- Pause or resume an AI agent manually.
- End an AI session when you no longer want the agent to handle the current session.
- Manage each AI agent separately when multiple agents are enrolled for the same contact.
Human-AI Conversation Control is currently available through Feature previews. Learn more about Feature previews in this Help Center article.
Understand AI session states
An AI session represents the period when an AI agent is enrolled to handle messages for a contact.
Each session can have one of the following states:
- Active: The AI agent is handling the conversation. When the customer sends a new message, the agent can respond according to its configured behavior.
- Standby: The AI agent remains connected to the conversation but will not respond to customer messages until it is resumed.
- Ended: The AI session has ended. AI session controls are no longer shown in the conversation.
An AI session is associated with a contact, rather than an individual conversation thread.
Enable Human-AI Conversation Control
Before you can use Human-AI Conversation Control, an Admin or above must enable it for your workspace from Feature previews.
Note: Your workspace must have access to AgentFlow to use Human-AI Conversation Control. If AgentFlow is not included in your current plan, you will see an Upgrade action instead of the feature preview toggle.
To enable Human-AI Conversation Control:
- Click your profile icon in the bottom-left corner and go to Settings.
- Under Company settings, select Feature previews.
- Find Human-AI Conversation Control.
- Turn on the toggle.
The setting applies to the entire workspace across web and mobile. You do not need to enable it separately on mobile.
When you enable the preview for the first time, you will be asked to accept the Feature Preview terms.
When Human-AI Conversation Control is not enabled:
- The AI handling folder is not shown in Inbox.
- AI session controls and status are not shown above the reply box.
- AI agents continue to exit conversations according to their existing behavior and configuration.
If Human-AI Conversation Control is turned off while AI sessions are live, any AI sessions that are on Standby will end immediately.
View conversations with live AI sessions
When Human-AI Conversation Control is enabled, you can use the AI handling folder in Inbox to find conversations where an AI agent currently has a live session.
You can find AI handling in the Inbox left menu under My Inbox, below Calls. 
The folder includes conversations in both Active and Standby states. When all AI sessions for a conversation have ended, the conversation is removed from the folder.
The AI handling folder does not change which conversations you have access to. It includes live AI sessions from all conversations you can already access, rather than only conversations assigned directly to you.
Filter AI-handled conversations
At the top of the AI handling folder, you can use the following filters:
- All: Shows all conversations with a live AI session. This is selected by default.
- Active: Shows conversations where an AI agent is currently handling the conversation.
- Standby: Shows conversations where the AI agent is waiting and will not respond until resumed.
Conversation rows do not display a separate AI status badge. To check whether an AI agent is Active or on Standby, open the conversation or use the filters in the AI handling folder.
Note: The AI handling folder shows the current AI session state. It does not indicate whether an AI agent needs assistance or whether its responses are performing as expected.
Control an AI session in a conversation
When you open a conversation with a live AI session, an AI session banner appears above the reply box.
The banner shows:
- Whether the AI agent is Active or on Standby
- When the AI session will exit
- Actions available for controlling the AI session
When the AI agent is active, the banner displays AI agent is handling this conversation.
When the AI agent is on standby, the banner displays AI agent is on standby.
Understand the AI session countdown
An AI session represents the period when an AI agent is enrolled to handle messages for a contact.
Each AI session can have one of the following states:
- Active: The AI agent is handling the conversation and can respond when the customer sends a new message.
- Standby: The AI agent remains connected to the conversation but will not respond until it is resumed.
- Ended: The AI session has ended and its session controls are no longer shown.
An AI session is associated with a contact rather than an individual conversation thread.
Take over a conversation
You can take over an Active AI session simply by replying to the customer from Inbox.
When you send a customer-facing message, the AI agent automatically moves to Standby. The AI remains connected to the conversation but will not respond until it is resumed.
The following messages sent by a person from Inbox will put the AI agent on standby:
- Text messages
- Attachments
- Voice notes
- Message templates
The following actions do not put the AI agent on standby:
- Internal notes
- Scheduled messages
- Broadcast messages
- Messages sent through Flow Builder
- Automated messages
- Messages sent through API
- Channel auto-greetings
Note: Adding an internal note does not take over the conversation. The AI agent remains Active and may still respond to the customer.
Pause an AI agent
You can also move an Active AI agent to Standby without replying to the customer.
Click Pause in the AI session banner. 
The AI agent moves to Standby immediately. No confirmation is required.
This can be useful when you want to prevent the AI agent from responding while you review the conversation or prepare your own response.
Resume an AI agent
When an AI agent is on Standby, select Resume to allow it to handle the conversation again.
The AI agent does not respond immediately when you resume it. It starts handling the conversation again when the customer sends their next message.
Add context before resuming the AI
Before resuming an AI agent, you can optionally add context to help it continue the conversation.
This is especially useful if you shared information with the customer through content the AI agent cannot interpret directly, such as:
- Images
- Files
Describe any relevant information in text before resuming the AI so the agent can use it when it continues the conversation.
The context you provide is passed to the AI agent and appears as a Handover context source in the Execution trace for its first reply after resuming.
To learn how to review this information, see View AI message's Execution trace in Inbox.
Resume when a customer message is unanswered
If the customer's latest message has not received a reply, resuming the AI does not make it respond to that message.
The AI agent only starts handling the conversation again when the customer sends another message. Until then, the previous customer message remains unanswered.
End an AI session
Click End AI session when you no longer want the AI agent to handle the current session.
Ending an AI session:
- Stops the current AI session.
- Removes its session controls.
- Removes the conversation from the AI handling folder when no other live AI sessions remain.
- Automatically creates an internal handover note in the conversation summarizing what happened during the AI session.
The handover note is internal and is never sent to the customer.
Ending a session does not prevent the AI agent from enrolling the contact again later. Whether a new session starts depends on the AI agent's enrolment settings.
If you want to prevent the AI agent from starting another session with the contact, update the agent's enrolment conditions.
Track AI session changes in the conversation
When an AI session changes state, a system message is added to the conversation.
This gives your team a record of when an AI agent:
- Moves to Standby
- Resumes
- Ends its session
A system message is only added when the AI session actually changes state.
Considerations when controlling AI sessions
Keep the following behaviors in mind when using Human-AI Conversation Control:
Ended sessions are not shown in the AI handling folder
When an AI session ends, the conversation is removed from the AI handling folder if there are no other live AI sessions.
There is no AI session indicator on the conversation row afterward. To review what happened during the completed AI session, open the conversation and check the internal handover note.
Multi-channel AI agent deployments
If an AI agent deployment listens to multiple channels, a staff reply on any channel included in that deployment puts the AI session on Standby.
The session applies across the deployment rather than separately to each channel.
Manage conversations with multiple AI agents
More than one AI agent deployment can enroll the same contact. When this happens, each AI agent runs its own session independently.
The AI session strip summarizes the states of all live AI sessions in the conversation.
If at least one AI agent is Active, the overall conversation remains in an Active state.
View individual AI agent sessions
Open the agent roster from the AI session strip to view each live AI session separately.
For each AI agent, you can see:
- Agent name
- Current state
- Individual session countdown
- Available Pause, Resume, and End actions
You can use these controls to manage each AI session separately.
Conversations with multiple AI agents
In some cases, more than one AI agent can have a live session with the same contact. Each AI agent runs its own session independently.
When multiple AI agents are involved:
- You can view and manage each AI agent separately from the agent roster.
- The session countdown shows the AI session that will exit soonest.
- Replying to the customer moves all currently Active AI agents to Standby.
- Bulk actions are available when all AI agents share the same state. You can also end all live AI sessions at once.
- The agent name appears on AI-generated messages so you can identify which AI agent sent each response.
If an individual AI session ends, that agent adds its own internal handover note to the conversation.