Human approval of AI actions

An AI action can do something for a customer, such as issue a refund. Turn on human approval when a person should check the action before it runs.

For example:

Customer: Can I get a refund for my cancelled class?

AI: Your refund request is waiting for approval. You can still ask me other questions.

The refund waits. The customer can still ask an ordinary question, such as your opening hours.

Set up approval

Open AI actions, open the menu beside an action and choose Human approval.

  1. Turn on Require approval before this action runs.
  2. Choose the Approval team. With one team, there is no extra team dropdown.
  3. Choose Any team member, or select one person from that team.
  4. Optionally turn on Let approval expire when the conversation ends at the bottom. Pending requests then expire when the conversation ends or times out, not when the browser closes.
  5. Save.

The action is still called Issue refund, for example. Needs approval is the badge that shows permission is required before it runs.

Review a request

Open Team Inbox > Approvals. Select the request, check its details and choose Approve or Reject.

If you have access to the conversation, you can also use its approval card in Team Inbox. Opening a conversation marked Action required brings the pending card into view.

Good to know

  • Approving does not take over the chat. The AI or current employee continues helping the customer.
  • With Any team member, current agents and team managers of the approval team may decide. Viewers can only read requests. They cannot approve or reject, even if an older request names them as the approver.
  • With a named approver, only that person may decide until a team manager reassigns the request.
  • If you cannot decide, Approve and Reject stay disabled. The tooltip explains why.
  • An approver does not automatically get access to the full customer conversation.
  • Approval means permission to run. The action's execution result shows whether it actually succeeded.
  • Requests expire after 72 hours without a decision. An expired action is not executed; your team must follow up.
  • Finish or cancel pending work before resolving the conversation.

Notify the approver

Open Settings > Notifications and add a notification:

  • When: An action needs approval.
  • Only if: optional. Choose an AI agent, approval team or specific AI action.
  • Then send to: Approver, or add Email, Slack or Webhook destinations.

Approver emails the named person, or the current members who can decide. The notification links to the request. Receiving it does not grant permission to approve or access the chat.

The AI action is dropdown shows the action and its AI agent. Renaming the action does not change the saved connection. A Team is condition refers to the approval team, which can differ from the team handling the customer's chat.

Reassign a request

A team manager can choose another approver. Boei records the old and new assignment and who changed it. A later change to the AI action's settings does not silently move existing requests.

Approval also requires the right team role. Customer reply permissions and whether someone receives new chats remain separate settings.