How do I fully remove a legacy AI agent from a channel?

Question

What happens to my existing legacy bot when I connect an AI agent to a messaging channel, and how do I fully remove it from that channel?

Answer

When you connect an AI agent to a messaging channel, it becomes the active bot for that channel. In some cases, the legacy AI agent doesn’t move to draft on its own.

To fully remove the legacy AI agent from the channel and return it to draft, remove its channel assignments and publish the change. This is important if you manage multiple AI agents or plan a phased migration from legacy AI agents to AI agents.

When this applies

Use these steps when:

You have an existing legacy AI agents already associated with a messaging channel

You connect an AI agent to that same channel

The legacy AI Agents doesn’t automatically move to draft

You want to fully unpublish the legacy AI Agents from the channel

How channel behavior works

Only one AI agent experience can be active on a messaging channel at a time.

When you connect an AI agent to a channel, it becomes the active AI agent for that channel. If the legacy AI agent remains published, you might need to remove its assigned channels to fully unpublish it and move it back to draft.

Manually unpublish the legacy AI agent

To fully remove a legacy AI agent from a messaging channel:

In Admin Center, go to the legacy AI agent you previously used for the channel

Open the legacy AI agent's channel settings

Deselect all messaging channels assigned to that legacy AI agent

Save and publish the change

After you publish, confirm the legacy AI agent isn’t assigned to any channels and has moved to Draft status, if applicable

Why this matters

If you don’t manually clean up the legacy AI agent, it can cause confusion during rollout or troubleshooting, especially when:

Migrate from legacy AI agent to AI agents

Manage multiple AI agents across brands or channels

Complete phased go-lives over time

Investigate whether an older AI agent configuration still affects behavior

Remove channel assignments to ensure your environment reflects the intended active AI agent setup.

Best practices for phased migrations

If you roll out AI agents gradually:

Document which AI agent is assigned to each channel

Verify channel assignments after each AI agent migration

Review legacy AI agent channel settings before and after go-live

Keep an internal checklist for each migration wave

Reconfirm the current process before later rollout phases in case product behavior changes

For more details, see About AI agents