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Live Chat & Human Takeover

Sometimes the AI isn't enough — a customer needs a human, or you spot a sensitive question and want to step in personally. AI Bot Kit's Live Chat Takeover lets you pause the AI on a specific conversation and reply in real time as yourself, on any channel (website widget, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Instagram, Google Chat).

What you can do

  • Pause AI for one conversation without affecting any other ongoing chats.
  • Reply as the owner with a labeled message (visitors see "You're now chatting with a human").
  • Resume the AI at any time.
  • See a takeover event inline in the conversation history so the timeline is auditable.

Where to find it

Open any chatbot → Conversations view → click a conversation. You'll see:

  • The full message history
  • A header with the conversation source (WhatsApp, Telegram, website, etc.)
  • An AI replies toggle at the top right

Take over in three clicks

  1. Click the AI replies toggle to switch it off.
  2. If you haven't set a display name, a modal asks for one — this is what visitors see when they receive your messages.
  3. A composer appears below the messages. Type your reply and press Send (or Ctrl/Cmd+Enter).

A takeover event ("Owner Name has joined the conversation") is inserted in the timeline automatically. The visitor's widget shows a banner: "You're now chatting with a human."

What happens to the AI

While AI replies is off for this session:

  • Inbound messages are still received and stored.
  • No AI reply is sent — only your manual replies go out.
  • Your replies use no message credits.

When you toggle the switch back on, the AI resumes from the next inbound message.

The 24-hour WhatsApp window

WhatsApp (and Instagram) only allow free-form replies within 24 hours of the customer's last inbound message. AI Bot Kit tracks this on every conversation:

  • If the window has closed, the composer is disabled with a tooltip explaining why.
  • When the customer messages again, the window reopens and you can send again.

The website widget has no such restriction.

Visitor experience

Event What the visitor sees
Owner toggles AI off Banner: "You're now chatting with a human."
Owner sends a message Bubble styled differently with the owner's display name
Owner toggles AI back on Banner clears; AI replies resume on the next message

Plan availability

Live Chat takeover is available on the Free Full Access, Business and Enterprise plans. It is not included on the Essential plan (or the older Basic plan) — those accounts can view conversations but cannot take over.

Tips

  • Use takeover for VIP situations. The AI handles 95% of cases well — reserve takeover for high-value or sensitive chats.
  • Set a friendly display name. "Sarah from Acme Support" lands better than "owner".
  • Toggle back on when you're done. Otherwise the AI stays paused and the customer waits for you.
  • Review takeover events. They show up in the conversation transcript exports too, useful for training new agents.