# When to hand a chat from AI to a person > When an AI chatbot should pass a customer to a person, when it shouldn't, and how to make the hand-off smooth on your website, WhatsApp and Telegram. Canonical: https://heykiko.io/blog/when-to-hand-a-chat-to-a-person Last updated: 2026-11-05 AI agent guides · by The HeyKiko team · published 5 November 2026 · 7 min read An AI chatbot should hand the chat to a person when the customer asks for one, when it can't answer from what it knows, when the customer is upset, and when the decision is one a person should make, such as a refund. Done well, the customer is told what happens next, nobody asks them to repeat themselves, and someone replies quickly. Done badly, it's the main reason customers dislike AI service. ## Why the hand-off matters most In a 2024 Gartner survey of 5,728 customers, 64% said they'd prefer companies didn't use AI for customer service, and the top concern was that it would become harder to reach a person. Gartner's advice to service leaders was to make sure AI lets customers reach a person when it can't help. [Gartner: survey on AI in customer service](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-07-09-gartner-survey-finds-64-percent-of-customers-would-prefer-that-companies-didnt-use-ai-for-customer-service) Put the other way round: an AI agent that answers the easy questions and hands over the hard ones quickly removes the main objection customers have to it. ## When to hand off Situations where an AI chatbot should hand a customer to a person | When | Example | Why | | --- | --- | --- | | They ask for a person | “Can I speak to someone?” | Making them argue with a bot is the fastest way to lose them | | The knowledge doesn't cover it | A question your pages never mention | A person beats a guess | | They're upset | “Third time I'm asking, nobody cares!” | Empathy and authority both matter here | | It's a decision | A refund, an exception, a complaint | Money and policy calls need a person, or a case for one | | It's going in circles | The same question twice, differently | The bot isn't understanding; a person will | | It's sensitive | Health, legal trouble, a bereavement | Some conversations shouldn't be automated | ## When not to - Greetings and thanks. “Hi” isn't a request for a person. - Questions it can answer well. Handing off an easy question wastes your team's time and makes the customer wait. - “Am I talking to a bot?” That's a question, not a request: answer honestly that it's an AI, and keep helping. Being honest about AI is also becoming a legal duty. The EU AI Act's Article 50 requires that people are told when they're interacting with an AI system, unless it's obvious; it applies from 2 August 2026. Check with your own adviser how it applies to you. [EU AI Act: Article 50](https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/50/) ## How to hand off well 1. **Tell the customer what happens**: “I've passed this to our team; someone will reply here.” Say when, if you can. 2. **Keep the whole conversation**: The person who picks it up should see everything the customer said, so nobody asks them to repeat it. 3. **Stop the AI**: Once a person is on the chat, the AI should stay quiet for that customer until it's handed back. 4. **Alert the right person**: Where they'll see it: email, a messaging app or the inbox, and to one owner rather than everyone. 5. **Reply quickly**: On WhatsApp a business can only send free-text replies within 24 hours of the customer's last message, so a slow hand-off can lock you out. [Meta: customer service windows](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/cloud-api/guides/send-messages#customer-service-windows) 6. **Hand it back**: When the person's done, let the AI answer new messages again. ## Outside opening hours - Say plainly that the team is closed and when they'll be back, instead of a hand-off message that implies someone is coming now. - Keep the chat waiting for the team, at the top of their list in the morning. - For anything that needs follow-up, take the details now: a case or a contact number means nobody has to start over. - Let the AI keep answering what it can; most out-of-hours questions are easy ones. ## What to measure - How many chats are handed off, and why: a request, a knowledge gap, a rule. - How long the customer waits for the first reply from a person. - Chats nobody answered at all. - The questions behind knowledge-gap hand-offs: each one is a page you can write, so the next customer gets an answer. ## How HeyKiko does it Kiko hands the chat to your team when a customer asks for a person in their own words, and optionally when your knowledge barely covers a real question or an agent's AI budget runs out. The customer gets your hand-off message, or your closed message outside opening hours. Your team replies from the [shared inbox](https://heykiko.io/features/shared-inbox) with the whole conversation, Kiko stays paused for that customer, and you can send every hand-off to one person and be told if nobody replies in time. Asked “am I talking to a bot?”, Kiko says it's an AI and carries on. > While a person has the chat, Kiko doesn't run for that customer, so no AI credits are used. See [human hand-off](https://heykiko.io/features/human-handoff) for every setting, or try it free for 14 days. ## Sources Checked on 5 November 2026. We make HeyKiko, which this guide uses as its example. - [Gartner: 64% of customers would prefer companies didn't use AI for customer service (July 2024)](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-07-09-gartner-survey-finds-64-percent-of-customers-would-prefer-that-companies-didnt-use-ai-for-customer-service) - [EU AI Act: Article 50, transparency obligations](https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/50/) - [Meta: customer service windows](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/cloud-api/guides/send-messages#customer-service-windows) ## Questions people ask ### When should a chatbot hand off to a human? When the customer asks for a person, when the chatbot can't answer from its knowledge, when the customer is upset, when a decision such as a refund needs a person, when the conversation is going in circles, and when the subject is sensitive. ### Should a chatbot say it's an AI? Yes. Customers should know, and the EU AI Act's Article 50 requires that people are told they're interacting with an AI system unless it's obvious, from 2 August 2026. ### Do customers prefer talking to a person? Many do. In Gartner's 2024 survey, 64% of customers said they'd prefer companies didn't use AI for customer service, and their top worry was that it would be harder to reach a person. A quick, easy hand-off answers that worry. ### What should the customer see when a chat is handed off? A short message saying a person will reply, and when if you know, or a closed message outside opening hours. They shouldn't have to repeat anything. ### How fast should a person reply after a hand-off? As fast as you can. On WhatsApp it must be within 24 hours of the customer's last message, or only an approved template can reach them. ### Should the AI keep replying after a person takes over? No. The AI should stay quiet for that customer until the person hands the chat back, so the two don't talk over each other. ### What if nobody is available to take the chat? Tell the customer honestly that the team will reply when they're back, keep the chat at the top of the team's list, and take the details needed to follow up. ## Related - [Human hand-off](https://heykiko.io/features/human-handoff) - [Shared inbox](https://heykiko.io/features/shared-inbox) - [The WhatsApp 24-hour window, explained](https://heykiko.io/blog/whatsapp-24-hour-window) - [AI agent vs chatbot](https://heykiko.io/blog/ai-agent-vs-chatbot) - [All guides](https://heykiko.io/blog)