AI agentsinteract with customers on messaging, email (including API and web form), and voice channels to resolve issues without human intervention, freeing up your support team to spend more time on more complex issues.

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This article does not apply to customers who bought AI agents - Advanced before March 10, 2026. See this article instead.

AI agents interact with customers on messaging, email (including API and web form), and voice channels to resolve issues without human intervention, freeing up your support team to spend more time on more complex issues.

Each AI agent can interact on only one type of channel. For example, a single AI agent can’t interact with customers on messaging and email channels. All newly created AI agents use agentic AI by default.

You must be a client admin in AI agents to create an AI agent.

This article contains the following topics:

  • Creating an AI agent for messaging
  • Creating an AI agent for email
  • Creating an AI agent for voice

Related articles:

  • Getting started with AI agents
  • Activating and managing AI agents

Creating an AI agent for messaging

You can create an AI agent to interact with customers on messaging channels. Only one AI agent can be active on a given messaging channel at a time.

These instructions assume you've already created a messaging channel.

Tip: At any point throughout the instructions below, you can click Save and close to leave the creation flow and return to the dashboard. You can then resume the flow from the dashboard by clicking Continue setup.

To create an AI agent for messaging

  1. In the AI agents workspace, click Dashboard in the sidebar.
  2. Click Create AI agent and select for Messaging.

    The Power your AI agent with knowledge page opens.

  3. Under Select one brand and knowledge base, select the brand you want the AI agent to use.

    The knowledge base associated with the brand is automatically connected to the AI agent so that it can create AI-generated answers based on that content. If the brand’s knowledge base:

    • Hasn't been created yet, click Add knowledge base to create one.

    • Hasn't been activated yet, click Activate knowledge base to activate it.

    • Doesn't have authentication turned on, click Learn about authentication to turn on help center authentication for messaging.

  4. (Optional) If you’ve already connected an external knowledge source to another AI agent in your account, click Edit sources and select the source to connect it to this AI agent as well.
  5. (Optional) Add content from external websites using a web crawler by clicking either of the following:
    • Add existing: Select one or more existing web crawlers you want your AI agent to use and click Add.

    • Create: Create a new web crawler to index website content.
      Note: You must have at least one connected knowledge source before continuing, whether that’s an active help center or a web crawler.
  6. Click Continue.

    The Set language and tone of voice page opens.

  7. In Name, adjust the name for the AI agent if necessary.

    By default, this name is <selected brand> AI agent. This name appears in the AI agents workspace and at the top of the Web Widget in messaging conversations.

  8. In Business profile, enter one or two short, factual sentences in English that describe what your company does.

    This information gives the AI agent context so that it can give the most appropriate responses. Keep this description focused on simple text about your company's business domain, rather than marketing-focused material that could potentially influence your AI agent's behavior. Make sure not to add instructions for the AI agent to the business profile, which might lead to unexpected errors.

  9. Under Select tone of voice, click Select on one of the following options:
    • Professional: (Default) A polite and direct tone.
    • Enthusiastic: An upbeat and friendly tone.
    • Informal: A casual and friendly tone.
    • Custom: A custom tone created from scratch or an edited version of one of the tones above.

      If you select this option, write some short guidelines that tell the AI agent how to speak to users. For example, “You maintain a polite, approachable, and conversational tone throughout the conversation.”

  10. Under Add avatar, drag-and-drop or click to upload an image.

    The image can be a JPG, PNG, or GIF file and it must be smaller than 100KB. An image size of 50x50 pixels gives the best results. Simple, clear images that represent your organization (such as a logo or mascot) are recommended.

  11. In Select default language, select the default language your AI agent should use.

    This is the language used when a customer’s locale is unknown.

  12. In Select languages for translation, select the additional languages that the AI agent should be able to use to respond to customers.

    This list is limited to languages for which automatic translation is available. With automatic translations, the AI agent’s system replies, like the greeting and escalation messages, and other dialogues are automatically translated to those languages. For more information, see Adding and managing supported languages for AI agents.

  13. (Optional) Test your AI agent to be sure it responds the way you expect.
  14. Click Continue.

    The Set up system replies page appears.

  15. (Optional) Under System replies, expand each of the following and customize the messages as needed:
    • Greeting reply: What the AI agent should say to greet the customer at the beginning of the conversation. This is part of the Welcome reply and can be edited later.
    • Wrap-up reply: What the AI agent should say at the end of a conversation when collecting feedback from a customer about their experience. This is part of the Collect BSAT response and can be edited later. There are two versions of this message, split into separate tabs:
      • Helpful: What the AI agent should say if the customer confirms the AI agent’s response was helpful.
      • Unhelpful: What the AI agent should say if the customer says the AI agent wasn’t helpful. Select Add option to talk to a human and escalate to automatically add an Escalation block to the Collect BSAT response’s dialogue.
    • Escalation reply: What the AI agent should say when escalating a conversation to a human agent. This is part of the Escalation reply and can be edited later. Select Collect name, email, and reason for contact if you want the AI agent to collect these details when escalating.
    • Fallback reply: What the AI agent should say when no relevant use case is detected and a generative reply can't be produced. This is part of the Default reply and can be edited later. Select Add option to talk to a human and escalate to automatically add an Escalation block to the Default reply’s dialogue.
  16. (Optional) Test your AI agent to be sure it responds the way you expect.
    Note: Between September 30 and October 31, 2026, the AI agent creation flow is being updated. As a result, the following steps may not be available in your account yet. If you don't see these steps in your account, skip to the final step in this section.
  17. Click Continue.

    The Automate support topics page opens.

    An analysis of your existing tickets is performed, and the following results are shown:
    • Automation rate: The estimated percentage of conversations that could be automatically resolved by this AI agent. An additional estimated percentage shows how many conversations could be resolved using your connected knowledge sources specifically.
    • Automated conversations: The number of conversations out of the total that could be automatically resolved by this AI agent.
    • Recommendations: Recommendations to create specific help center articles or generative procedures that the AI agent can use to address more customer requests and increase your automation rate.

      Recommendations are generated only if your account has sufficient ticket history as well as conversations with enough similarity to be combined under unified support topics. Recommendations are refreshed weekly and adapt as your customer conversations change. If no recommendations can be generated, the Automate support topics and Test your AI agent pages are skipped.

  18. For each recommendation, do the following:
    1. Click View details to open the Recommendation details panel, which shows the following information:
      • Examples of existing tickets that could be automatically resolved using the recommended article or procedure You can click a ticket ID to open the ticket in a new browser tab.
      • (For articles only) Help center configuration, including the article’s placement and viewing permissions You can click the drop-downs to change the configuration as needed.
      • (For procedures only) A preview of the procedure text

    2. Click Preview article or Preview procedure to open an editable version of the recommended content.
    3. Review the content and make adjustments as needed.

      For help editing an article, see Help center editor toolbar reference.

      For help editing a procedure, see Creating generative procedures to shape flexible conversation flows for AI agents.

    4. Click Save to return to the previous page.
    5. Click Approve.

      Alternatively, if you don’t want to use the recommended content at all, hover over the recommendation in the middle of the screen, click the options menu (), and select Decline.

  19. After you’ve reviewed all recommendations, click either of the following:
    • Approve all and test: If you haven’t individually approved all recommendations, review the information presented in the dialog, then click either Back to setup or Continue to testing.

    • Skip this step: Review the information presented in the dialog, then click either Skip and continue or Back to content review.

    The Test your AI agent page opens.

    An automated testing process runs, and the following results are shown:

    • Scenarios tested: The number of test scenarios performed. Scenarios passed: The number of test scenarios your AI agent resolved successfully.
    • Scenarios failed: The number of test scenarios your AI agent didn’t resolve successfully.
    • Specific test scenarios: The results of specific test scenarios, including:
      • The title of the test
      • An AI-generated summary of the request that was tested
      • How many test runs were performed
      • How long the test runs took
      • Whether the test passed or failed
  20. (Optional) For each test scenario, click the test summary to open the Test details panel and review the following additional information:
    • The persona used for the test scenario.
    • The results of each test run. As long as the majority of the test runs pass, the entire scenario passes.

  21. (Optional) Click the View run (>) icon to open the conversation associated with a test scenario.

  22. (Optional) Review the conversation to see why it passed or failed, then click < Conversation preview to return to the Test details panel.

    If you’re not satisfied with the testing results, you can click Save and close to save your progress. Then, update the relevant procedures or articles as necessary, perform testing until you’re satisfied with the results, and activate the AI agent when you’re ready.

  23. Click Go to activation.
  24. Click one of the following options:
    • Save and close: Save your configuration so far and exit the creation flow. You can continue configuring the AI agent’s settings before making it live for customers, but you can’t return to the creation flow for this AI agent. Instead, use the AI agents workspace to perform any additional configuration as needed and activate the AI agent later.
    • Go to activation: Make the AI agent live so that it can begin interacting with customers.
      1. Select the channels you want the AI agent to interact with customers on.
      2. Click Activate on channels.

        Your AI agent is now live on your selected channels. You can’t return to the creation flow for this AI agent, but you can use the AI agents workspace to perform any ongoing configuration as needed.

Creating an AI agent for email

You can create an AI agent to interact with customers on email (including API and web form) channels. Only one AI agent can be active for a given support email address or web form at a time.

These instructions assume you've already created an email, API, or web form channel.
Tip: At any point throughout the instructions below, you can click Save and close to leave the creation flow and return to the dashboard. You can then resume the flow from the dashboard by clicking Continue setup.

To create an AI agent for email

  1. In the AI agents workspace, click Dashboard in the sidebar.
  2. Click Create AI agent and select for Email.

    The Power your AI agent with knowledge page opens.

  3. Under Select one brand and knowledge base, select the brand you want the AI agent to use.

    The knowledge base associated with the brand is automatically connected to the AI agent so that it can create AI-generated answers based on that content. If the brand’s knowledge base:

    • Hasn't been created yet, click Add knowledge base to create one.

    • Hasn't been activated yet, click Activate knowledge base to activate it.

  4. (Optional) If you’ve already connected an external knowledge source to another AI agent in your account, click Edit sources and select the source to connect it to this AI agent as well.
  5. (Optional) Add content from external websites using a web crawler by clicking either of the following:
    • Add existing: Select one or more existing web crawlers you want your AI agent to use and click Add.

    • Create: Create a new web crawler to index website content.
      Note: You must have at least one connected knowledge source before continuing, whether that’s an active help center or a web crawler.
  6. Click Continue.

    The Set language and tone of voice page opens.

  7. In Name, adjust the name for the AI agent if necessary.

    By default, this name is <selected brand> AI agent. This name appears only in the AI agents workspace. For more information on how customers see your AI agent’s name, see Configuring the sender of AI agent email responses.

  8. In Business profile, enter one or two short, factual sentences in English that describe what your company does.

    This information gives the AI agent context so that it can give the most appropriate responses. Keep this description focused on simple text about your company's business domain, rather than marketing-focused material that could potentially influence your AI agent's behavior. Make sure not to add instructions for the AI agent to the business profile, which might lead to unexpected errors.

  9. Under Select tone of voice, click Select on one of the following options:
    • Professional: (Default) A polite and direct tone.
    • Enthusiastic: An upbeat and friendly tone.
    • Informal: A casual and friendly tone.
    • Custom: A custom tone created from scratch or an edited version of one of the tones above.

      If you select this option, write some short guidelines that tell the AI agent how to speak to users. For example, “You maintain a polite, approachable, and conversational tone throughout the conversation.”

  10. In Select default language, select the default language your AI agent should use.

    This is the language used when a customer’s locale is unknown.

  11. In Select languages for translation, select the additional languages that the AI agent should be able to use to respond to customers.

    This list is limited to languages for which automatic translation is available. With automatic translations, the AI agent’s system replies and dialogues are automatically translated to those languages. For more information, see Adding and managing supported languages for AI agents.

  12. (Optional) Test your AI agent to be sure it responds the way you expect.
  13. Click Continue.

    The Set up your AI agent on email and web form page appears.

  14. In the Let the customer know that someone will be in touch text box, enter the message that the AI agent should send if the conversation needs to be escalated to a human agent.
  15. (Optional) Test your AI agent to be sure it responds the way you expect.
  16. Click one of the following options:
    • Save and close: Save your configuration so far and exit the creation flow. You can continue configuring the AI agent’s settings before making it live for customers, but you can’t return to the creation flow for this AI agent. Instead, use the AI agents workspace to perform any additional configuration as needed and activate the AI agent later.
    • Go to activation: Make the AI agent live so that it can begin interacting with customers.
      1. Select the channels you want the AI agent to interact with customers on.
      2. Click Activate on channels.

        Your AI agent is now live on your selected channels. You can’t return to the creation flow for this AI agent, but you can use the AI agents workspace to perform any ongoing configuration as needed.

Creating an AI agent for voice

Client admins can create a voice AI agent in the AI agents workspace. Only one AI agent can be active for a given phone line.

Tip: You don’t need an available phone line to create or test the AI agent. You can activate it on a phone line later.

To create a voice AI agent

  1. In the AI agents workspace, click Dashboard in the sidebar.
  2. Click Create AI agent, then select for Voice.

    The Power your AI agent with knowledge page opens.

  3. Under Select one brand and knowledge base, select the brand you want the AI agent to use.

    The knowledge base associated with the brand is automatically connected to the AI agent so that it can create AI-generated answers based on that content. If the brand’s knowledge base:

    • Hasn't been created yet, click Add knowledge base to create one.

    • Hasn't been activated yet, click Activate knowledge base to activate it.

    • Doesn't have authentication turned on, click Learn about authentication to turn on help center authentication for messaging.

  4. (Optional) Add content from external websites using a web crawler by clicking either of the following:
    • Add existing: Select one or more existing web crawlers you want your AI agent to use and click Add.

    • Create: Create a new web crawler to index website content.
      Note: You must have at least one connected knowledge source before continuing, whether that’s an active help center or a web crawler.
  5. Click Next.

    The Personalize your AI agent page opens.

  6. In Name, adjust the name for the AI agent if necessary.

    By default, this name is <selected brand> AI agent.

  7. In Business profile, enter one or two short, factual sentences in English that describe what your company does.

    This information gives the AI agent context so that it can give the most appropriate responses. Keep this description focused on simple text about your company's business domain, rather than marketing-focused material that could potentially influence your AI agent's behavior. Make sure not to add instructions for the AI agent to the business profile, which might lead to unexpected errors.

  8. Under Select tone of voice, click Select on one of the following options:
    • Professional: (Default) A polite and direct tone.
    • Enthusiastic: An upbeat and friendly tone.
    • Informal: A casual and friendly tone.
    • Custom: A custom tone created from scratch or an edited version of one of the tones above.

      If you select this option, write some short guidelines that tell the AI agent how to speak to users. For example, “You maintain a polite, approachable, and conversational tone throughout the conversation.”

  9. In Select default language, select the language your AI agent should use.

    You can add more supported languages later.

  10. In Select a locale for your default language, select a locale to determine the AI agent’s vocabulary and accent.

    For example, if you select French as the default language, you can choose a locale of France or Canada. The locale affects the AI agent’s phrasing, word choice, spelling conventions in transcripts, and spoken pronunciation during conversations.

  11. In Default Voice, select the voice the AI agent uses by default. You can configure a different voice for individual languages later.

    For more information about languages, locales, and voice settings, see Configuring multi-language support for voice AI agents.

  12. (Optional) Test your AI agent to be sure it responds the way you expect. For more information, see Testing a voice AI agent.
  13. Click Next.

    The Set up your AI agent on voice page appears.

  14. (Optional) Under System replies, expand each and customize the messages as needed. For more information, see Viewing and editing system replies for AI agents.
  15. Click one of the following options:

    • Save and close: Create the agent without activating it.

      You can continue configuring the agent before making it live for customers, but you can’t return to the creation flow for this AI agent. Instead, use the AI agents workspace to perform any additional configuration as needed and activate the AI agent later.

    • Go to activation: Create and activate the agent so that it can begin interacting with customers:

      • Select the lines you want the AI agent to interact with customers on.

      • Click Activate on channels.

      By default, Zendesk records AI agents' calls and you can monitor your usage charges. To not record these calls, select Stop AI agent call recording in your call recording configuration.

Your AI agent is now created. If you selected Go to activation, it is also active on the selected lines. You can’t return to the creation flow for this AI agent, but you can continue configuring it at any time from the AI agents workspace. For deployment guidelines, see voice AI agent best practices.

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