When does the AI assistant stop and hand the chat to me?

Why it stops on purpose

An assistant that never stops can talk in circles, or answer something it should not. So it has clear exits. In each one, it either tells the person someone will take over, or it stays silent when it must.

The four handover moments

The assistant passes the person to you when:

1. It has sent 10 replies in one conversation. It thanks them and asks for their best email or phone number.
2. They ask for a person. For example “talk to a person”, “real human” or “customer service”. Asking “are you a bot?” also counts.
3. It cannot answer from your facts. It is told to hand over instead of guessing. It is also told to hand over if the person seems upset.
4. The other side looks like another automated assistant. Two bots answering each other helps nobody, so it simply stops.

A reply that fails the brand-safety check is never sent. That chat is handed to you instead.

In the first three cases, the message tells them the team will reply. Read the exact wording in Does the AI tell people it is a bot?.

When it goes silent instead

Some cases end the chat without a goodbye, because messaging the person would be wrong:

• They opt out. If someone replies STOP, the assistant never answers them again, even if they write first later. See STOP and unsubscribe.
• You mark the lead Converted, Ignored or Junk in your Lead Inbox. The sale is done, or you chose to leave them alone.
• The person’s data was erased, or they asked for it to be.

Handover is final

Once the assistant hands a person over, it never starts talking to them again. Your normal automations still answer their keywords. Everything else is yours to reply to.

The 24-hour window

Instagram lets a business reply only within 24 hours of the person’s last message. The assistant follows the same rule. If the window has closed, it stays quiet, and it cannot reopen the chat. See The 24-hour window.

Use the Waiting for you list well

Open Lead Inbox, then the Waiting for you tab.

• Needs a reply puts the longest wait first, because their 24 hours run out first.
• Window closed keeps people you can no longer DM. Use the email or phone number they left.
• After the 10-reply handover, an email or phone number they send within 7 days is saved to their lead. It never replaces one they already gave.

Reply in Instagram as yourself. See the Waiting for you list for every label on the cards.

The daily email

Once a day, the account owner gets an email when people are waiting. It gives counts only: how many asked for a person, how many it could not answer, how many reached the limit. It also shows the longest wait. It never includes a name, a message or a contact detail.

Tips

• Check the list at least once a day, ideally soon after the email.
• If many people land under Assistant could not answer, add those answers to your FAQ or knowledge library.
• Mark finished sales Converted so the assistant leaves those people alone.

Good to know

• It does not answer story mentions. They contain no text.
• Photos and voice notes with no words get no reply from it.
• More limits are listed in What are the limits of Replavia’s AI?.