Managing languages and translation support in AI agents (Legacy)

After youcreate an AI agent, you can specify its default language and configure either automatic or custom translations for an improved customer experience. Using these settings, you can select a language for a single-language AI agent or create a multilingual AI agent.


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This article describes functionality that moved into
legacy status on July 31, 2025. On December 31, 2026, this functionality will no
longer be available. For more information, see this announcement.


After you create an AI agent, you can specify
its default language and configure either automatic or custom translations for an
improved customer experience. Using these settings, you can select a language for
a single-language AI agent or create a multilingual AI agent.
You must be an admin to manage languages and translations for an AI
agent.
This article contains the following topics:


Understanding language support in AI agents
Configuring a default language for an AI agent
Activating automatic translation for an AI agent
Creating custom translations for AI agent messages


Related articles:

Best practices for supporting multiple
languages in an AI agent
Viewing and configuring settings for AI
agents



Understanding language support in AI agents

Which language an AI agent uses to respond to a customer depends on the
channel.


Language support on messaging channels

For standard responses and
messages sent as part of an answer flow (which is
legacy functionality), the AI agent uses the language set in the Language
section of the Settings tab. By default, this is the same
as your account’s default
language. This language can be any of the languages listed here.
For AI-generated replies, the language the AI agent uses depends on the
language the customer types their message in:

If the customer’s language is supported by the AI
model, the AI agent replies in that language.
If the customer’s language isn't supported by the AI model, the AI
agent replies in the account’s default language.

If the system can’t confidently detect the customer’s language, the AI
agent replies in the previously successfully detected language within
the same conversation, if available. If not available, the AI agent
uses the same language as the standard responses.



Language support on email, API, and web form channels

The AI agent generates a response using relevant help center content in
the same language as the language set in the requester's profile. If
no relevant content exists in the requester's language, the AI agent
uses content in either of the following languages, evaluated in
order:

The parent language of the requester's language. For example, if
the requester's language is British English (en-gb), but no help
center content exists in that language, the AI agent uses
English (en).
The AI agent's default language.





Configuring a default language for an AI agent

By default, your AI agent language is set to your account's default language, but
you can change it if necessary.
For consistency and ease of comprehension, the AI agent’s default language
should match the language used in its standard responses.
To configure a default language for an AI agent


In Admin Center, click
AI in the sidebar, then select AI agents > AI agents.
Click the AI agent you want to configure a default language for.
Click the Settings tab.
Click the Language section to expand it.
Use the drop-down menu to select your language.



Your changes are automatically saved, but updates to the AI agent’s default
language won’t be presented to customers until you publish the AI agent.



Activating automatic translation for an AI agent

You can configure your AI agent to automatically translate its messages. This
includes its standard responses and, if you
had a draft or published AI agent as of February 2, 2025, the text elements
in any answer steps, including AI agent
messages, options, button text and links, carousel card titles, image
descriptions, and variables.
The AI agent’s default
language is used as the source language when translating text.
The language the AI agent translates messages into depends on where the Web
Widget is embedded. If the Web Widget is embedded in:


A Zendesk help center, the AI agent uses the language provided by the help
center itself.

A website, the AI agent uses the end user’s browser language.


In either case, you need to add the language as a supported language when
activating automatic translation, as described below.
Activating automatic translation in an AI agent does not impact text elements
managed outside of the AI agent settings, such as help center articles. You
can, however, use dynamic content to translate some of these elements in
Zendesk Support. See Providing multiple language support
with dynamic content.

To activate automatic translation



In Admin Center, click
AI in the sidebar, then select AI agents > AI agents.

Click the AI agent you want to activate automatic translation for.
Click the Settings tab.
Click the Language section to expand it.
Select Translate messages.
Click Select languages for translation and select the languages
you want to include in the automatic translation process. To filter
the options, you can begin typing a language name.



Your changes are automatically saved, but updates to the AI agent’s automatic
translation process won’t be presented to customers until you publish the AI agent.



Creating custom translations for AI agent messages





Note: This section applies only if you're on
Support Professional and above or Suite Growth and
above.
If you find that the automatic translations
for some AI agent messages don’t meet your standards—for
example, by translating product and brand names, using incorrect
pronouns, or using inaccurate phrasing—you can replace them with
custom translations.
Custom message translations are manually written versions of the
text in the message fields of an AI agent’s standard responses
and, if you had a draft or published AI agent as of February 2,
2025, AI agent messages in answer steps. Custom
translations aren’t available for other automatically translated
text elements (such as option or button text).
To customize a message in a particular language, that language must
be:

Included in the automatic translation settings

Added to the list of available languages
in Zendesk Support


Custom-translated AI agent messages are sent to end users based on
their detected language.
If a message field does not have a customized translation in the
end user’s detected language and that language is included in
the automatic translation settings, it will be
autotranslated.
This section contains the following topics:

Creating custom translations for AI agent standard responses
Creating custom translations for AI agent messages in answer steps (Legacy)





Creating custom translations for AI agent standard responses

You can create custom translations for the text in an AI agent’s standard
responses.
To create a custom translation for a standard AI agent
response


In Admin Center, click
AI in the sidebar, then select AI agents > AI agents.
Click the AI agent you want to create custom translations
for.
Click the Messaging behavior tab.
Click the standard response you want to create a custom
translation for.
Under the message text, click Manage
translations.

Click the pencil icon for the language you want to
customize, then enter the custom text.
Repeat this step
for additional languages if needed.

Click Done.


Your changes are automatically saved, but updates to the AI agent’s
custom translations won’t be presented to customers until you publish the AI agent.



Creating custom translations for AI agent messages in answer steps (Legacy)



Note: This section applies only if you had a
draft or published AI agent as of February 2, 2025.

You can create custom translations for the AI agent messages in an answer
step.
To create a custom translation for an answer


In Admin Center, click
AI in the sidebar, then select AI agents > AI agents.
Click the AI agent you want to create custom translations
for.
Click the Answers tab.
Select the answer you want to create a custom translation
for. The bot builder opens.

Click the AI agent message you want to create a custom
translation for. You can’t create custom translations
for other text elements, such as option or button
text.

Under the AI agent message, click Manage
translations.

Click the pencil icon for the language you want to
customize, then enter the custom text.
Repeat this step
for additional languages if needed.

Click Done.


Your changes are automatically saved, but updates to the AI agent’s
custom translations won’t be presented to customers until you publish the AI agent.



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