> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.autocampaign.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# AI Employees

> Hire an AI Employee that answers incoming conversations, works toward a goal, uses skills, and hands off to your team.

## Overview

An [AI Employee](/getting-started/glossary#ai-employee) replies to incoming
conversations in your [Inbox](/inbox/overview) on SMS, WhatsApp, email, and the
[chat widget](/getting-started/glossary#chat-widget). It follows a job, works toward a goal, and answers from your
[knowledge bases](/automation/knowledge-base) (the documents it reads to answer
questions). It uses only the skills (actions) you allow, and asks a teammate for
help when it should. Find employees under
**Marketing → Automation & AI → AI Employees** (`/ai-employees`).

<Tip>
  **In short:** 1) Hire an employee with the seven-step wizard. 2) Assign it to
  conversations by hand, by default, or by workflow. 3) Let it send replies or
  approve its drafts first.
</Tip>

<Info>
  **Time to complete:** \~20 minutes  ·  **Difficulty:** Intermediate  ·  Only **Active** employees can reply.
</Info>

## Before you start

* Create a [knowledge base](/automation/knowledge-base) if the employee should answer
  from your documents.
* Set up [meeting types](/scheduling/meeting-types) (the kinds of appointments people
  can book) if it should book appointments.
* Your [plan](/getting-started/glossary#plan) sets how many employees you can have.
  Every reply spends [AI credits](/billing/wallet-billing) (the balance that pays
  for AI work).

## Hire an employee

Click **New Employee**. The wizard (a guided form) has seven steps. A draft is saved
after **Employee details**, so you can leave and **Continue hiring** later.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Choose a job" icon="briefcase">
    Start from a ready-made job — **Receptionist**, **Sales Representative**,
    **Lead Qualification Specialist**, **Customer Support**, **Appointment
    Scheduler**, **Marketing Assistant**, **Collections Officer**, **FAQ Assistant**,
    **Review Collector** — or **Custom Employee**. A job pre-fills the goal, skills,
    and human-help triggers (the situations where it asks a teammate for help). You
    can change all of them.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Employee details" icon="id-badge">
    Set the **Name**, **Job title**, **Avatar**, **Description**, **Language**, and
    **Timezone**. Under **Voice & tone**, pick a **Communication style** (Friendly,
    Professional, Formal, Casual) and add an optional **Brand voice**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Goal" icon="bullseye">
    **Start from a goal** — Book Appointments, Qualify Leads, Resolve Support
    Requests, Collect Customer Information, Collect Reviews, Answer FAQs, Track
    Orders, Generate Sales Opportunities, or Custom Goal. Name it, then set **Goal is
    completed when**, **Stop trying when**, **If the goal can't be completed**, and
    **Max attempts** (1–20). Collecting goals let you list **What should this
    employee collect?** (up to 8 items).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Knowledge" icon="book">
    Choose the **Attached knowledge bases**. The employee can only answer from
    knowledge bases attached here.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Skills" icon="wand-magic-sparkles">
    Tick what the employee is allowed to do. **Reply to Customers** is always on.
    Available skills: **Read Customer**, **Update Customer**, **Update Custom
    Fields**, **Add Note**, **Check Availability**, **Book Appointment**, **Create
    Opportunity**, **Update Opportunity**, **Add Opportunity Note**, and **Search
    Knowledge Base**. Booking skills ask **Which meeting types can this employee
    book?** (up to 10). Skills marked **Coming soon** can't be selected yet.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Human help" icon="hand">
    Choose **When should this employee ask for help?** from ten triggers. Examples:
    *Customer asks for a human*, *Refund request*, *Negative sentiment*, *AI is not
    confident*, *Legal request*. Add **Custom phrases** (up to 25). Under **When
    help happens**, pick **Assign to** a teammate, **Leave conversation summary**,
    and **Notify team**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review" icon="check">
    Confirm the summary, then click **Create employee** (saves as **Draft**) or
    **Create & activate**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  You don't choose an AI model (the engine that writes the replies). The
  **Overview** tab shows which one powers the employee under **Powered by**.
  Autocampaign AI manages it for you.
</Note>

Activation is blocked when:

* **Search Knowledge Base** is ticked but no knowledge base is attached.
* A booking skill has no meeting type.
* A **Collect Reviews** goal has no saving skill (**Add Note**, **Update Customer**,
  or **Update Custom Fields**).

## Put the employee on conversations

An employee only replies on conversations it's assigned to. Three ways:

* **From the inbox** — in the contact panel's **AI Employee** card, click **Assign**
  and select an employee. Use **Change** or **Unassign** later.
* **Automatically** — set **Default employee for new conversations** on the AI
  Employees page. Or pick an **AI Employee** per phone number (**Channels**), per
  email sender (**Settings → Email → Senders**), or in the
  [chat widget](/settings/chat-widget). A new incoming conversation goes to the
  number's employee first, then to the default. A conversation a teammate already
  owns is never taken over.
* **From a workflow** (an automation that runs steps for you) — add the **Assign AI
  Employee** action in the [workflow builder](/automation/workflow-builder). The
  employee replies when the contact next messages; it doesn't send anything on its
  own.

## Choose between auto-send and draft & approve

Assigning an employee puts the conversation in **AI active**: the employee sends
its own replies. To review first, open the **AI Autopilot** menu in the composer
(the box where you type replies) and choose **Draft & approve**. The chip (small
label) reads **Autopilot: Draft & approve**, and each reply appears as a banner —
**\<employee> needs approval** — with **Edit** and **Approve & Send**. A newer
incoming message replaces an unapproved draft.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Take over">
    Click **Take over** on the AI Employee card, or just send a reply while in
    **Auto-send** mode. The conversation becomes **Human controlled**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Resume">
    Click **Resume AI** to hand the conversation back.
  </Step>
</Steps>

In **Draft & approve** mode, replying yourself doesn't pause the employee — it keeps
drafting the next reply for your approval.

**Conversation states:** AI active · Supervised · Handover pending · Human
controlled · AI suspended. After three failed reply attempts in a row, a
conversation is **AI suspended** until you **Resume AI**.

### What happens when the employee asks for help

When a trigger fires, the employee sends its courtesy line and the conversation
goes to **Handover pending**. The chosen teammate is assigned, the team is
notified, and an AI-written summary note is added to the thread. A **Goal** card in
the contact panel shows the checklist and lets you **Mark complete**.

## What replies look like on each channel

* **SMS** replies are plain text, capped at 1,000 characters by default.
* **WhatsApp** replies use WhatsApp formatting. If the 24-hour customer-service
  window has closed (WhatsApp only lets you reply freely within 24 hours of the
  customer's last message), the reply is skipped and logged. The employee never
  sends templates.
* **Email** replies are formatted (up to 2,000 characters). An SMS
  [opt-out](/getting-started/glossary#opt-out) (a request to stop receiving texts)
  doesn't block email replies.
* **Chat widget** replies support rich text. Opted-out contacts with no email
  address can't be assigned.
* Each reply sets aside AI credits; with none left the reply is skipped as **Not
  enough credits**.

## Manage employees

Each card shows today's **Conversations**, **Appointments**, **Handovers**, and
**Goal success**, with **Pause**, **Resume**, **Duplicate**, and **Delete**. The
profile has three tabs. **Overview** lets you edit any section and **Save**.
**Activity** lists every interaction: what the customer asked, the reply, actions
taken, knowledge used, and why a reply was skipped. **Test chat** lets you try the
saved setup without touching real conversations.

<Note>
  **Retry later** under *If the goal can't be completed* is accepted but currently
  does nothing. Employees handling active conversations can't be deleted — pause or
  reassign them first.
</Note>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Does the employee reply to everyone automatically?">
    Only on conversations it's assigned to — by hand, by a default or per-number
    assignment, or by a workflow.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can it book meetings or update my contacts and deals?">
    Yes. Turn on the booking, customer, and opportunity skills. Opportunity skills
    act only on the conversation's contact and their open deal — see
    [Opportunities](/crm/opportunities).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is the AI Reply button in the composer the same thing?">
    No. **AI Reply** and **AI Draft** rewrite or compose text for you and need no
    employee. They also use AI credits.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I edit the employee's instructions directly?">
    No. Instructions are assembled from the job, goal, skills, and voice you set.
    The **Advanced** tab is for platform staff only.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The employee isn't replying">
    Check it's **Active**, the conversation shows **AI active** or **Supervised**, the
    contact isn't opted out, and you have AI credits. The **Activity** tab shows the
    skip reason.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The answers ignore my documents">
    Attach the knowledge base on the **Knowledge** step, tick **Search Knowledge
    Base**, and confirm the sources finished processing (status **Completed**).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Create & activate fails with an error">
    Read the message shown — usually a missing knowledge base, meeting type, or
    saving skill (see above).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Card title="Feed it knowledge" icon="book" href="/automation/knowledge-base">
  Give your employee source material to answer from.
</Card>