About AI agents with agentic AI

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">AI agents that use agentic AI are designed to solve complex user requests with limited direct human supervision. These AI agents are capable of autonomous decision-making, planning, and adaptive execution throughout the course of a conversation. This means they can interact with users in a more natural, human-like way, engaging in small talk and working through complex or vague issues by identifying the necessary next steps and asking follow-up questions where needed.</p>
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<div class="note attention" id="agentic_about__note_e4y_nnr_2jc">
<span class="attentiontitle"></span> <span class="ph">The functionality described in this article is being rolled
out to all Suite and Support plans from May 11 through June 12, 2026. You may not
see this functionality in your account yet. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10487730059034" target="_blank">this announcement</a> for details.</span>
</div>
<p class="p">AI agents that use agentic AI are designed to solve complex user requests with limited
direct human supervision. These AI agents are capable of autonomous decision-making,
planning, and adaptive execution throughout the course of a conversation. This means
they can interact with users in a more natural, human-like way, engaging in small talk
and working through complex or vague issues by identifying the necessary next steps and
asking follow-up questions where needed. </p>
<p class="p">AI agents with agentic AI increase your automation rates and reduce the load on human
agents and admins, while still providing the level of service your customers expect. </p>
<p class="p">AI agents with agentic AI are available on messaging, email, and voice (EAP) channels. </p>
<p class="p">This article contains the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="agentic_about__ul_d4l_f42_52c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_lf2_g42_52c">Benefits of AI agents with agentic AI</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dgw_h42_52c">Capabilities of AI agents with agentic AI</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_w4t_l42_52c">Next steps</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Related article: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="agentic_about__ul_n1c_h42_52c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10169333291290" target="_blank">Creating an AI agent for the voice channel
(EAP)</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_lf2_g42_52c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Benefits of AI agents with agentic AI</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">AI agents with agentic AI accelerate your path to 80% automation with minimal setup,
full control, and built-in transparency. Powered by adaptive reasoning, these AI
agents autonomously determine the most effective path to a resolution, handling
nuanced queries across channels. </p>
<p class="p">AI agents with agentic AI shift the paradigm of automated conversations. Instead of
relying on rigid dialogue flows, they: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_lf2_g42_52c__ul_olp_t42_52c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Are purpose-built for service</strong>: Unlike other solutions that focus on broad
enterprise workflows, these AI agents are designed for service to resolve even
the most nuanced queries. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Are easier to deploy and scale</strong>: Deploy these AI agents in minutes, not
months—no complex flows, rigid templates, or manual training required. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Provide better customer experiences</strong>: These AI agents don’t just execute
tasks—they ask clarifying questions, determine the best actions, and adjust in
real-time for natural, contextual interactions. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Offer quality you control</strong>: Stay in command with full visibility into AI
decision-making and the flexibility to let these AI agents operate autonomously
or follow controlled workflows, ensuring every resolution meets your standards. </li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Ultimately, AI agents with agentic AI move past the limitations of scripted chatbots
and first-wave generative bots, delivering higher automated resolution rates, lower
operational costs, and a more engaging experience for end users. </p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_dgw_h42_52c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Capabilities of AI agents with agentic AI</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">AI agents with agentic AI bring intelligence and flexibility to your support
workflows by: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_dgw_h42_52c__ul_kh2_nmt_y3c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Understanding incoming customer requests</strong>, routing them correctly, and
resolving common issues automatically. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Producing clear, customer-ready responses</strong>, aligned with your tone and
brand. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Escalating smoothly when needed</strong>, ensuring customer requests always
progress toward a resolution.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">The table below summarizes the main capabilities of AI agents with agentic AI.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_dgw_h42_52c__table_zl1_x42_52c" rules="all" summary="">
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<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d88e163" style="vertical-align:top;">Capability</th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d88e166" style="vertical-align:top;">Description</th>
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</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e163" style="vertical-align:top;">Generative procedures</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e166" style="vertical-align:top;">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Move away from fully scripted dialogues by simply
describing your business policies and letting the AI agent
create <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10473649691418" target="_blank">generative
procedures</a> that run the conversation
autonomously. However, you still retain the ability to
decide which topics should remain under scripted dialogues
and which should use generative procedures.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Generative procedures also allow for multilingual
AI agents. You can write a procedure once, in a single
language, and it can serve all the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749663130" target="_blank">languages your AI agent
supports</a>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e163" style="vertical-align:top;">Integrations and actions</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e166" style="vertical-align:top;">The AI agent uses AI-driven procedures that can integrate
your existing session and CRM <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357756651290" target="_blank">actions</a>, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357756844442" target="_blank">API calls</a>, and more.
All you need to do is to provide the AI agent with additional
context in the form of an API description.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e163" style="vertical-align:top;">Adaptive reasoning</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e166" style="vertical-align:top;">The AI agent analyzes each request from the user, identifies
the issue, determines the best next actions, and adapts
dynamically within the boundaries of your business procedures.
It evaluates context, pinpoints missing information, and asks
follow-up questions. Most powerfully, AI agents with agentic AI
are capable of addressing multiple distinct issues within the
same user request.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e163" style="vertical-align:top;">Reasoning controls</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e166" style="vertical-align:top;">In the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749580186" target="_blank">conversation logs</a>, you
can see the reasons behind an AI agent’s actions and decisions.
Monitor how it solves problems, audit every conversation, and
refine behaviors to ensure confidence in each
resolution.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e163" style="vertical-align:top;">Disambiguation</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e166" style="vertical-align:top;">When a customer's request is vague (for example, "I have a
problem with my account"), the AI agent can ask for specifics
before providing an answer or triggering a procedure.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e163" style="vertical-align:top;">Small talk</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d88e166" style="vertical-align:top;">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">For pure small talk with no question, the AI agent
sends a response to proactively ask the customer for their
query. For example: "Hi! I'm here to help with anything
related to your orders. How can I help you today?"</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">For small talk plus an in-scope question, the AI
agent ignores the small talk and proceeds to resolve the
customer's question.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">For small talk plus an out-of-scope question, the
ticket is automatically escalated to a human agent.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_sdr_cnt_y3c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Differences in agentic AI capabilities on messaging and email channels</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The table below describes how agentic AI handles features differently between
messaging and email channels. Understanding these differences will help you set
expectations and identify the best channel to use for a given AI agent.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
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<col>
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<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;"><strong class="ph b">Feature</strong></td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;"><strong class="ph b">Agentic AI for messaging</strong></td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;"><strong class="ph b">Agentic AI for email</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Generative procedures and dialogues</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Use cases can trigger a generative procedure or
a dialogue.</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Use cases can trigger a generative procedure
only.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Procedure execution</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Multiple generative procedures can be executed
sequentially during a single messaging conversation. </td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">A single generative procedure can be executed
per email response, but multiple procedures can be executed
throughout the email chain (one per email).</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Multi-topic support</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Topics are handled one at a time in sequential,
conversational turns. These topics can be questions that can
be answered using connected knowledge sources (<em class="ph i">knowledge
questions</em>) or requests that trigger a procedure
(<em class="ph i">procedure requests</em>).</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Emails with multiple knowledge questions are
answered in a single email. Emails with a single procedure
request are answered in a single email, and this process can
repeat sequentially. Emails with multiple procedure
requests, or a knowledge question and a procedure request,
are escalated.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Responses</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Multiple responses are sent, one to each topic
as it’s addressed.</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">A single, unified reply is sent so customers
receive a resolution in one message.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Parameter gathering</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Parameters are collected over several turns, as
questions are sent one by one.</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">All required parameters are collected in a
single email, minimizing back-and-forths.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Escalations</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Escalations are triggered by customer request,
dialogues, or procedures.</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Escalations are triggered by customer request,
procedures, or any unsupported scenario, such as emails with
multiple procedure requests, unsupported languages, or
knowledge questions combined with procedure
requests.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry row-nocellborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Automatic email cleanup</td>
<td class="entry row-nocellborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">Not applicable</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" dir="ltr" style="vertical-align:top;">The AI agent automatically strips previous
replies, signatures, footers, and legal notes from email
threads, so it focuses only on the relevant new content in
each customer email.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_ecj_k42_52c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Considerations and current limitations of AI agents with agentic AI</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">As you get started with AI agents with agentic AI, keep in mind the following
considerations and current limitations: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ecj_k42_52c__ul_r3l_1p2_52c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">No support for rich-text formatting in generative procedures</strong>: The
generative procedures used by these AI agents don’t support rich-text
formatting (for example, buttons and carousels). However, rich-text
formatting is supported in <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749494810" target="_blank">dialogues</a>. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">No support for search rules in generative procedures</strong>: The generative
procedures used by these AI agents don’t work with <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749301658#h_01HA1SAF2KBZFV3H010JCCDN47" target="_blank">search rules for knowledge
sources</a>. That means you cannot have multiple knowledge sources and
ask the AI agent to use only specific ones for certain users. However,
search rules still work in dialogues. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">(Email channel only) Mixed question and procedure handling.</strong> The AI
agent can’t automate responses to customer emails that combine both a
question that can be answered with knowledge source content and a procedure
request. For example, “Can I return my shoes? If yes, send me a label.”
These types of emails are escalated to a human agent by default. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">(Email channel only) Parallel procedure automation.</strong> Only one
procedure request can be automated per email response. The AI agent can’t
respond to multiple procedure requests in a single email and will instead
escalate these types of emails. The AI agent can, however, support
sequential procedure requests. In other words, the AI agent completes one
procedure, then the customer asks another question in a subsequent email
that triggers a different procedure. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">(Email channel only) Limited control of email formatting.</strong> Control
over greetings and the structure of the outgoing emails is limited. Future
enhancements are planned to allow control over greetings, content layout,
signatures, and footers. In the meantime, current <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357758773658" target="_blank">personalization features</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749291290" target="_blank">instructions</a>
<em class="ph i">do</em> impact the AI agent’s email responses.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_w4t_l42_52c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Next steps</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8724978128282" target="_blank">Getting started with AI agents</a> to learn
how to create and configure an AI agent with agentic AI.</p>
</div>
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