Understanding AI agent tickets for AI agent–only conversations

<body>
<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">AI agent tickets are tickets for conversations that were handled entirely by a messaging or voiceAI agentor by adefault messaging response, meaning they haven’t yet been or never were escalated to a human agent. Agents and admins can view AI agent tickets in the Agent Workspace.</p>
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<p class="p">AI agent tickets are tickets for conversations that were handled entirely by a messaging
or voice <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6970583409690" target="_blank">AI agent</a> or by a <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4500737327258-Configuring-messaging-responses-and-business-hours" target="_blank">default messaging response</a>, meaning they
haven’t yet been or never were escalated to a human agent. Agents and admins can view AI
agent tickets in the Agent Workspace. </p>
<p class="p">AI agent tickets help you: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="ai_agent_tickets__ul_qd4_tr1_2gc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Identify customer requests that are ongoing or have been solved without human
intervention.</strong> Search for or create views for AI agent tickets to quickly
discover which types of issues are being solved without human agent involvement. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Provide context for customer interactions.</strong> AI agent tickets appear in the
interaction history for customers who have had previous interactions with the AI
agent. This gives agents who are handling a ticket more context on the engagements
that this customer has had with your business. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Audit conversations to analyze AI agent responses.</strong> Read the full
conversations between your AI agent and customers to see how your AI agent is
responding and identify areas for improvement. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Gain better visibility into your automated resolutions.</strong> Examine your solved
and closed AI agent tickets to confirm that interactions counted as <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5352026794010#topic_m1n_sq4_jwb" target="_blank">automated resolutions</a> are being resolved
appropriately.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p"></p>
<div class="non-responsive"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" class="iframe" controls="controls" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PIp-eRNrDPc" width="640"></iframe></div>
<p class="p"><em class="ph i">Viewing AI agent conversations as tickets in the Agent Workspace (4:17)</em></p>
<p class="p">This article contains the following topics: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="ai_agent_tickets__ul_pvl_qr1_2gc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_rxc_2r1_2gc">About AI agent tickets</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_myq_2r1_2gc">Turning the AI agent tickets feature off (AI agents - Advanced only)</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_yqf_fr1_2gc">Identifying an AI agent ticket</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_cts_fr1_2gc">Understanding functionality limitations for AI agent tickets</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Related article:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="ai_agent_tickets__ul_bgg_52c_jhc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9966620612634" target="_blank">Finding AI agent tickets in your
account</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_rxc_2r1_2gc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About AI agent tickets</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">AI agent tickets are created for <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6970583409690#topic_kkn_bgb_2jc" target="_blank">AI agent functionality</a>, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6970583409690#topic_y13_cgb_2jc" target="_blank">legacy AI agent functionality</a>, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408833172250#topic_xmp_5w1_mvb" target="_blank">third-party bots</a>, and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4500737327258-Configuring-messaging-responses-and-business-hours" target="_blank">default messaging responses</a>.</p>
<p class="p">When a customer begins a conversation with a messaging or voice AI agent (or just
types in the Web Widget), an AI agent ticket is created. AI agent tickets are always
read-only.</p>
<p class="p">In messaging conversations, the first customer message in the conversation triggers
the creation of the AI agent ticket. This means any initial message sent by the AI
agent or basic message response (for example, a welcome message) is not included.
However, if the conversation is escalated to a human agent, then the conversation
history is backfilled and any initial messages are inserted in the ticket upon
escalation.</p>
<p class="p">In voice conversations, the AI agent ticket is created when the call connects.</p>
<p class="p">As long as a conversation is not escalated to a human agent, it is considered an AI
agent ticket. When an AI agent ticket is escalated to a human agent, the ticket is
no longer considered an AI agent ticket and becomes a regular, editable ticket.</p>
<p class="p">While an AI agent conversation is ongoing, the AI agent ticket is in the Open status.
The conversation is no longer considered ongoing when:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_rxc_2r1_2gc__ul_uwq_ftj_vgc">
<li class="li">4 days have passed since the last response, or</li>
<li class="li">The AI agent releases control, which marks the conversation as Solved, or </li>
<li class="li">(For third-party bots only) The third-party bot logic deems the conversation
resolved.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">At that point, an AI agent ticket moves into the Solved status, and then into the
Closed status based on the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835051546#topic_44p_cty_5t" target="_blank">Close ticket 4 days after status is set to
solved</a> automation (which is the only automation that works on AI agent
tickets). </p>
<p class="p">AI agent tickets can be deleted only when they’re in the Solved or Closed status.
This prevents agents or admins from accidentally deleting the ticket for an ongoing
AI agent conversation. </p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_rxc_2r1_2gc__note_xlk_n3r_vgc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Deleting an AI agent ticket doesn’t delete the
underlying Sunshine Conversations data associated with that conversation. In a
future release, Zendesk plans to introduce the ability to remove these
conversations from Sunshine Conversations too.</div>
</div>
<p class="p">AI agent tickets don’t disrupt existing workflows based on business rules, including
automations, triggers, and more. These types of workflows continue to function only
on regular tickets and cannot act on AI agent tickets. This means that these
workflows take effect as expected when an AI agent ticket is escalated to a human
agent. If an AI agent ticket is escalated, its status is set back from Open to New,
allowing it to be processed as any other newly submitted ticket would be.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_rxc_2r1_2gc__note_vgl_rkj_vgc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> For AI agent tickets, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408881573658#topic_olv_kmn_dsb" target="_blank">tags based on users and organizations</a>
are populated at ticket creation, but any triggers or automations based on these
tags don’t fire until a ticket is escalated to a human agent. </div>
</div>
<p class="p">AI agent tickets count toward your account’s <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835043994#topic_izq_c22_hlb" target="_blank">data storage limits</a>. If necessary, you can
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9752192560410" target="_blank">create a ticket deletion schedule</a> to
target AI agent tickets specifically. </p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_rxc_2r1_2gc__note_dzs_hwx_vgc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Messages sent by a <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408889293978" target="_blank">suspended user</a> don’t create an AI
agent ticket. If you need to delete these messages for General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) or other compliance reasons, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8499219792154" target="_blank">create a deletion schedule for bot-only
conversations</a>.</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested2" id="topic_qt4_pbr_cjc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title3">How metadata is added to AI agent tickets</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">By default, conversations have no metadata. However, you can use either the <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/widget-messaging/web/core/" target="_blank">Web Widget API</a> or the <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/zendesk-web-widget-sdks/sdks/web/conversation-metadata/" target="_blank">Sunshine Conversations API</a> (for
third-party bots) to apply metadata to a conversation. </p>
<p class="p">Metadata can be set on an AI agent ticket during any of the following events: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_qt4_pbr_cjc__ul_tsw_qbr_cjc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">When the conversation is created.</strong> If metadata is present when a
conversation is created, that metadata is mapped to the AI agent ticket at
creation time. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">When the AI agent escalates the conversation to a human agent.</strong> If
metadata is present when a <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/conversations/messaging-platform/programmable-conversations/switchboard/#pass-control" target="_blank">passControl</a> action occurs, the
metadata is mapped to the AI agent ticket at that point. This is also when
the ticket transitions from read-only to fully editable. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">When the session ends or the ticket is solved.</strong> If metadata is present
when a <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/conversations/messaging-platform/programmable-conversations/switchboard/#release-control" target="_blank">releaseControl</a> action occurs, all
metadata is automatically backfilled to the ticket. There’s no need to pass
it explicitly using the API.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_myq_2r1_2gc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Turning the AI agent tickets feature off (AI agents - Advanced only)</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_myq_2r1_2gc__note_u4v_f2p_s3c">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> In most accounts, the AI agent tickets feature is turned
on in your account and cannot be turned off, meaning the <strong class="ph b">Turn on AI agent
conversations as tickets</strong> setting does not appear.</div>
</div>
<p class="p">If you use AI agents - Advanced and have previously configured a custom ticket
creation flow, you can turn the AI agent tickets feature off to prevent duplicate
tickets from being created for conversations between your AI agents and your
customers.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To turn the AI agent tickets feature on or off</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_myq_2r1_2gc__ol_mty_fs1_2gc">
<li class="li">
<span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_myq_2r1_2gc__image_tkl_qkz_gqb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_channels_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Channels</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Messaging and social &gt;
Messaging</strong>.</span>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Manage settings</strong>. </li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">AI agent conversations as tickets in Agent Workspace</strong>
section to expand it. </li>
<li class="li">Select or deselect <strong class="ph b">Turn on AI agent conversations as
tickets</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_myq_2r1_2gc__image_prg_ms1_2gc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aiae_ai_agent_tickets_setting_banner.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>. </li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_yqf_fr1_2gc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Identifying an AI agent ticket</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">To help you distinguish between AI agent tickets and regular tickets, AI agent
tickets have a number of visual identifiers: </p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_yqf_fr1_2gc__ol_fsq_ns1_2gc">
<li class="li">A bot icon appears in the ticket tab. </li>
<li class="li">An “AI agent” badge appears in the ticket header (and the filter is
missing). </li>
<li class="li">All the fields in the ticket properties panel are grayed out. </li>
<li class="li">The composer and macros menu are hidden. </li>
<li class="li">A message in the ticket footer notes that this is an AI agent
ticket.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_yqf_fr1_2gc__image_h5v_rs1_2gc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aiae_ai_agent_ticket_identifying.png" width="800"></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p">Additionally, AI agent tickets include helpful indicators when an automated
resolution is consumed: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_yqf_fr1_2gc__ul_ndt_ffh_g3c">
<li class="li">The Resolution type field lists Automated as the value. </li>
<li class="li">In the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829602970" target="_blank">events view</a>, a system entry notes the
date and time the automated resolution occurred.</li>
<li class="li">The Resolution type field can be used when <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821589530" target="_blank">creating custom reports</a>.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_yqf_fr1_2gc__image_pl4_jmg_k3c" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aia_resolution_type_ticket_field.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_yqf_fr1_2gc__note_alx_2fh_g3c">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Deleting an AI agent ticket with a Resolution type value
of Automated doesn’t undo the consumption of an automated resolution.</div>
</div>
<p class="p">To help agents and admins identify AI agent tickets in views and search results in
Support, the Assignee column includes a bot icon for AI agent tickets.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_yqf_fr1_2gc__image_shk_ft1_2gc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aiae_ai_agent_tickets_view_column.png" width="600"></p>
<p class="p">In Support, the profile associated with the AI agent assignee has the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832171034#topic_pzw_3bs_qmb" target="_blank">Contributor role</a>.</p>
<p class="p">For more information, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9966620612634" target="_blank">Finding AI agent tickets in your account</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_cts_fr1_2gc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Understanding functionality limitations for AI agent tickets</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">AI agent tickets have different limitations and considerations than regular tickets.
The following sections provide more details:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_cts_fr1_2gc__ul_plf_kt1_2gc">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_lgf_ht1_2gc">Functionality limitations</a>
</li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_xqh_3t1_2gc">Sunshine Conversations considerations</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested2" id="topic_lgf_ht1_2gc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title7">Functionality limitations</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The following functionality does not currently work on AI agent tickets until
they are escalated to a human agent (at which point they become regular,
editable tickets): </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_lgf_ht1_2gc__ul_hnw_mt1_2gc">
<li class="li">Deleting tickets for ongoing AI agent conversations</li>
<li class="li">Modifying ticket properties </li>
<li class="li">Adding public comments or internal notes </li>
<li class="li">Applying macros </li>
<li class="li">Triggers and automations (except for the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835051546#topic_44p_cty_5t" target="_blank">Close ticket 4 days after status is set
to solved</a> automation)</li>
<li class="li">SLAs </li>
<li class="li">Omnichannel routing </li>
<li class="li">Skills calculation </li>
<li class="li">Ticket assignment/reassignment </li>
<li class="li">Bulk editing </li>
<li class="li">Ticket sharing </li>
<li class="li">Custom ticket statuses </li>
<li class="li">Problem/incident ticket linking </li>
<li class="li">Exporting ticket data</li>
<li class="li">Ticket merging </li>
<li class="li">Auto assist (including actions)</li>
<li class="li">AI-based redaction suggestions</li>
<li class="li">Workflows that rely on the “created_at” event </li>
<li class="li">Domain-level events in integrations </li>
<li class="li">Zendesk Apps framework (ZAF) apps </li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Additionally, AI agent tickets don’t appear in the following places: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_lgf_ht1_2gc__ul_ty2_mt1_2gc">
<li class="li">Agent Home </li>
<li class="li">Explore reports (except for the Resolution type field)</li>
<li class="li">The outputs of APIs that list tickets (such as the endpoints <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/ticketing/tickets/tickets/#list-tickets" target="_blank">listed here</a>)<div class="note" id="topic_lgf_ht1_2gc__note_bgb_nbr_cjc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> By default, these exclude AI agent tickets, but
you can retrieve them specifically by adding the
<code class="ph codeph">?support_type_scope=ai_agent</code> query parameter
(supported on <code class="ph codeph">/api/v2/tickets</code> and
<code class="ph codeph">/api/v2/incremental/tickets</code>).</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested2" id="topic_xqh_3t1_2gc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title8">Sunshine Conversations considerations</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The following Sunshine Conversations considerations apply to AI agent tickets: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_xqh_3t1_2gc__ul_u5v_pt1_2gc">
<li class="li">Pre-existing conversations are not backfilled as AI agent tickets. </li>
<li class="li">Each new <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/conversations/messaging-platform/programmable-conversations/switchboard/#basic-switchboard-configuration:~:text=Product-,zd%3AagentWorkspace,-Zendesk%20Support%20/%20Agent" target="_blank">zd:agentWorkspace</a> conversation
generates a regular ticket. </li>
<li class="li">Each new non-zd:agentWorkspace conversation generates an AI agent ticket. </li>
<li class="li">User data is synced either when an AI agent ticket is marked as Solved or
when the ticket is escalated to an agent. </li>
<li class="li">The <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/conversations/messaging-platform/programmable-conversations/switchboard/#release-control" target="_blank">releaseControl</a> action marks the
associated AI agent ticket as Solved.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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