Copilot or Autopilot - which AI mode to use
Copilot drafts answers for your team to send; Autopilot sends answers itself for allowed topics. See exactly when Autopilot sends and when it hands over.
Last updated 2 min read
The AI agent has two modes. Copilot never talks to customers; it prepares drafts for your team. Autopilot answers by itself, but only inside strict rules, and hands everything else to a person with a ready draft.
Before you start
- Who can do this: owners and admins.
- Plan: all plans. Automatic answers count toward your monthly AI cap.
- What you need: the AI agent switched on. See Turn on the AI agent.
Step by step
- Open AI Agent.
- Under Mode, choose:
- Copilot: "Writes a draft note on every new message; your team reviews and sends."
- Autopilot: "Sends by itself when the topic is allowed, the customer is calm and it is sure. Everything else goes to a person."
- For Autopilot, tick Topics it may answer alone. "Unticked topics still get a draft note for your team."
- Set Send only when at least this sure, the Daily limit and the Undo window under Safety.
- Press Save changes.
What happens next
How every reply is decided
| Step | What the AI does |
|---|---|
| Understand | Reads the whole thread and names the topic and the mood |
| Look up | The order on the ticket, tracking, your macros as approved wording, and help articles |
| Write | Answers the actual question first, warmly, in your tone, with only facts it found |
| Check | Blocks links, order numbers, amounts and codes that are not in your data |
| Decide | Sends (after the undo window) only for allowed topics, calm customers and high confidence |
| Hand over | Otherwise: a draft note, the hand-off tag, and a one-line reason for your team |
Reasons you may see when it does not send
- "Copilot mode: a person sends"
- "The customer sounds upset: a person should answer"
- "Could not tell the topic for sure"
- "… is not set to answer automatically"
- "Only 72% sure (needs 85%)"
- "Daily limit of 100 automatic replies reached"
- "This month’s AI answers on your plan are used up: drafting until the month resets or the plan changes"
Tips
- Start Autopilot with one topic, such as Order status, and watch the activity log for a week.
- Keep the undo window at 60 seconds while you build trust.
- Create a shared view for your hand-off tag so handed-over tickets are never missed.
Troubleshooting
Autopilot never sends
Check the reasons in AI Agent > Activity. The most common are a topic that is not ticked, a confidence threshold set very high, or no outgoing email for email tickets.
"That reply already went out or was cancelled"
You tried to cancel a reply after its undo window ended, or someone else cancelled it first.
Frequently asked questions
When does Autopilot send a reply by itself?
Only when everything lines up. The topic must be one you allowed, the customer must sound calm, the AI must be at least as sure as your threshold, nothing in the reply may be missing from your data, and the daily limit and monthly AI cap must not be used up. Otherwise it hands over.
What happens when Autopilot hands a ticket over?
It writes an internal note with its draft and a one-line reason, such as Only 72 percent sure, adds your hand-off tag, by default AI - Needs agent, and posts to Slack if Slack is connected. Your team picks it up from a view filtered by that tag.
Does Autopilot ever answer upset customers?
No. If the customer sounds upset, the AI always hands the ticket to a person, whatever your other settings. The same goes for legal, medical or safety claims, threats, contradictory facts and anything that needs an action such as a refund or an order edit.
Which topics can Autopilot answer?
The ones you tick under Topics it may answer alone. By default those are order status, sizing advice, product questions and stock and restock. Other topics, such as damaged items, refunds or address changes, still get a draft note for your team even in Autopilot.
Can I stop an Autopilot reply before it goes out?
Yes. Each automatic reply waits for the undo window, 60 seconds by default, before it is sent. An agent can cancel it during that time, and a new message from the customer or a reply from a teammate cancels it automatically.
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Related articles
- Turn on the AI agentSwitch on the Hushdesk AI agent in Copilot mode so it drafts a reply for every new customer message, then move to Autopilot for safe topics later.
- AI agent settings explainedEvery AI agent setting in plain words, including confidence, daily limit, undo window, tone, sign-off, house rules and the hand-off tag, with the defaults.
- How the AI stays accurate and safeThe checks behind every AI draft and answer. Grounded in your data, blocked when it invents links or amounts, and handed to a person when in doubt.
- Read the AI agent activity logSee what the AI agent did with every customer message and why, whether answered, drafted, handed over, skipped, cancelled or failed.
Still stuck?
Chat with the Hushdesk team. A person answers on every plan.