How do I better understand how AI agents suggest articles and respond to questions?

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</script><h2 id="h_01HYBAYSYE6D5MS9R76RP14V1N">Question</h2><p>How do I better understand how AI agents suggest articles and respond to questions?</p><h2 id="h_01M083RXXTZH7VR65VH4FTSZ7R">Answer</h2><p>Several factors determine how an AI agent responds to questions and phrases when you set up the system. Your question does not need to match a title or instructions exactly. You'll find answers to common questions about setting up an AI agent below.</p><div class="note">Note: This article describes functionality available only to customers who had a drafted or published AI agent as of February 2, 2025. For information about equivalent functionality in the <a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6970583409690" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AI agents - Advanced add-on</a>, see <a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/8264324615322" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Building dialogues for AI agents - Advanced</a>.</div><h3 id="h_01KWC0G0PD10H9QNTPM8XBR53Q">To generate a reply from a topic with Legacy AI agents, does a user need to use the exact same words as the topic?</h3><p>Legacy AI agents and bots rely on keyword or phrase matches to detect topics. If a user types the exact phrase, the AI agent is more likely to generate the correct reply. To improve understanding, you can fine-tune and update the AI agent to recognize new patterns and phrases over time. If a pre-generated answer exactly matches the query, the bot prioritizes the answer for consistency and accuracy. If there is no exact match, the bot typically presents a related article instead. In answer flows, keywords are training phrases. In articles, keywords are the words that appear in the content. Optimize your virtual agent to contain diverse keywords from your users.</p><h3 id="h_01KWC0MEKH2X52N3VNQZB4AWPN">How does the bot decide to share an existing answer over a generated reply?</h3><p>The bot first identifies the topic from the query. If an exact match exists as a pre-created answer, the bot prioritizes that answer. If there is no exact pre-created answer, the bot looks for relevant articles or knowledge base entries and generates a reply.</p><h3 id="h_01KWC0MEKHF6MJGYANHFDXV4RY">What if both an answer flow and an article exist? How do AI agents decide which to display?</h3><p>When both an answer flow and an article exist, the bot usually presents the pre-generated answer over the article. If neither exists, your AI agent defaults to the fallback response. Depending on how you prioritize bot responses in the backend, the bot presents the resolution accordingly. </p><p>To ensure the bot delivers the outcome you want, complete the following tasks:</p><ol>
<li data-list-item-id="e49b40c6fb8b1ae3d57215c4a73344a06">
<strong>Fine-tune phrases and keywords</strong>: Make sure keywords in answer flows and articles match the ways users phrase their queries</li>
<li data-list-item-id="ef1dce3de350ccc3b13fe425ad62717a4">
<strong>Review and test</strong>: Test different query phrases regularly to ensure the bot provides the most helpful responses</li>
</ol><p>See the articles below for other resources for training AI agents:</p><ul>
<li data-list-item-id="e01d2f854733137fa491f51859b9ec579"><a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357751836314-Optimizing-your-advanced-AI-agent-performance" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Optimizing your advanced AI agent performance</a></li>
<li data-list-item-id="ea927f80bac617cd93ab6498d2659a195"><a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4965031536794-Best-practices-for-creating-answer-flows-in-an-AI-agent-Legacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Best practices for creating answer flows in an AI agent (Legacy)</a></li>
<li data-list-item-id="e8c93d01ae913bafb4cb677824b35ba40"><a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5608652527386-Getting-started-with-AI-features-in-the-Zendesk-Copilot-add-on" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Getting started with AI features in the Zendesk Copilot add-on</a></li>
<li data-list-item-id="ea8a80c6a2783b31ea65db59e053dbdbf"><a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9309367377050-Best-practices-for-using-instructions-to-influence-AI-agent-responses" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Best practices for using instructions to influence AI agent responses</a></li>
<li data-list-item-id="e272ca84250611269f9ceb702a38ae50a"><a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7874013120026-How-can-I-train-my-AI-agent-and-improve-suggestions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How can I train my AI agent and improve suggestions?</a></li>
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