If you'veimported a knowledge source, your AI agent can use that information to provide conversational, AI-generated answers to the questions your customers ask. These types of AI-generated answers are known as generative replies.

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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 this announcement for details.

If you've imported a knowledge source, your AI agent can use that information to provide conversational, AI-generated answers to the questions your customers ask. These types of AI-generated answers are known as generative replies.

There are several settings you can configure that affect the behavior of these generative replies.

This article contains the following topics:

  • Sending a waiting message before generative replies
  • Displaying sources for generative replies

Sending a waiting message before generative replies

Note: The waiting message setting described in this section will be deprecated in July 2026. As an alternative, you can edit the Knowledge reply to instruct the AI agent to send an acknowledgement message to the customer before executing a knowledge search. However, don't do both at the same time, as doing so will result in double waiting messages being sent to the customer.

You can choose whether to display a waiting message to a user when an AI agent is generating a reply based on a knowledge source. By default, this option is turned on.

The waiting message itself is generated by AI, meaning it varies each time it’s sent and can’t be prescribed. However, the phrasing is affected by the AI agent's persona and instructions.

To configure whether a waiting message is sent

  1. In the AI agents workspace, select the AI agent you want to work with.
  2. Click Content in the sidebar, then select Advanced settings.
  3. Deselect or select Send a waiting message while generating knowledge answers.

Displaying sources for generative replies

You can choose whether the AI agent shows the customer the sources it used to generate a reply based on a knowledge source. By default, this option is turned on.

The sources are included as the last part of the AI agent's message. Customers can click Sources to see links to the articles the AI agent used to generate its answer.

Note: CSV files aren't listed as sources, even when the AI agent uses information from them to generate a response.

To display sources for generative replies

  1. In the AI agents workspace, select the AI agent you want to work with.
  2. Click Content in the sidebar, then select Advanced settings.
  3. Deselect or select Display sources for generative replies.
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