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

# AI Conversations

> How Answering Agent uses the same AI conversation engine across phone, website chat, SMS, and email.

Answering Agent uses one AI conversation engine across every customer channel. Phone calls, website chat, SMS, and email all use the same business knowledge, settings, and integration context, so customers get consistent answers no matter how they reach you.

<Note>
  When AI SMS or AI email responses are enabled, customers can text or email your business and get an automatic reply from the same AI system that answers phone calls and website chats.
</Note>

## What Stays The Same Across Channels

Every AI channel pulls from your existing Answering Agent setup:

* Business knowledge and location settings
* Team and phone-number AI instructions
* Integration context and safe customer-action rules
* Conversation history saved in the dashboard
* Task and question extraction after the conversation goes quiet

That means you do not need a separate knowledge base for texting or email. If the AI already knows your hours, pricing, memberships, policies, and integration rules for calls, that same context is used for written conversations too.

## Channel Behavior

| Channel      | Customer experience                                                                                                   | Dashboard result                                                                                                   |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Phone        | The AI answers live calls, uses approved integrations, and handles the conversation by voice.                         | Calls, transcripts, questions, tasks, and summaries are saved after the call.                                      |
| Website chat | Visitors chat on your website using the same AI knowledge and eligible integrations.                                  | Chat conversations are saved and extracted into dashboard tasks and questions after the thread goes quiet.         |
| SMS          | Customers can text your business number and receive AI replies when AI text responses are on.                         | SMS threads appear in Conversations. After 30 minutes of inactivity, Answering Agent extracts tasks and questions. |
| Email        | Customers can email or forward into your Answering Agent inbox and receive AI replies when AI email responses are on. | Email threads appear in Conversations. After 4 hours of inactivity, Answering Agent extracts tasks and questions.  |

## AI SMS Responses

AI SMS is built for short, back-and-forth customer questions.

When a new inbound text arrives:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Answering Agent receives the text">
    Twilio sends the inbound SMS to Answering Agent. The message is matched to the right team, location, and customer contact.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The AI checks whether it should reply">
    The AI replies only when AI text responses are enabled and the message is not part of an active human-handled task thread.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The same AI context is used">
    The reply is generated from your business knowledge, settings, and safe customer-action rules. SMS replies are kept short, direct, and plain text.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The conversation is saved">
    The inbound and outbound messages are stored in the dashboard conversation thread.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### When AI SMS Will Not Reply

AI text responses are intentionally conservative. The AI will not send a new automatic reply when:

* A team member has already replied from the dashboard in that conversation
* The text is tied to an active dashboard task or follow-up thread
* The customer has opted out of SMS
* The conversation has already moved into extraction or human handoff
* The conversation is marked as spam

This prevents the AI from jumping into a thread your team is already handling.

## AI Email Responses

AI email uses the same conversation engine, but gives the AI more room to write complete replies.

When a new inbound email arrives:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Answering Agent receives the email">
    The email is matched to your Answering Agent inbox and the enabled locations for that channel.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Sender authentication is checked">
    Answering Agent rejects unauthenticated provider verdicts so spoofed mail does not become an AI conversation.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The AI writes a channel-appropriate reply">
    Email replies can use complete sentences, paragraphs, and simple formatting. The AI still uses your same business settings and knowledge.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The thread is saved for follow-up">
    The email conversation appears in the dashboard and is later extracted into questions and tasks.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### When AI Email Will Not Reply

AI email responses pause when a human has replied, the thread already has an active task, the conversation has started extraction, the customer requested human help, or the conversation is marked as spam.

## Human Replies Take Over The Thread

If your team replies from the dashboard and the customer responds, Answering Agent treats that as a human-owned conversation. The customer reply is still saved in the dashboard, but the AI does not jump back in with another automatic response.

This is the key difference between AI-started conversations and team-started follow-up:

* **New inbound conversation:** AI can respond if the channel is enabled.
* **Dashboard reply thread:** The customer response routes back to the team, not the AI.

## Extraction Timing

Answering Agent waits until message-based conversations go quiet before creating dashboard work from them.

| Channel      | Quiet window before extraction | What gets extracted                                                        |
| ------------ | ------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| SMS          | 30 minutes                     | Tasks, unanswered questions, contact details, and useful follow-up context |
| Website chat | 3 minutes                      | Tasks, unanswered questions, handoff details, and chat context             |
| Email        | 4 hours                        | Tasks, unanswered questions, and email-thread context                      |

The extraction job runs every 5 minutes, so dashboard tasks usually appear shortly after the quiet window has passed.

## Safe Integration Rules

Phone calls and website chat can use richer live interaction patterns. SMS and email are more restricted because they do not have the same live confirmation UI.

For SMS and email:

* Written replies use your integration-backed business context when it is included in the AI settings.
* Live account changes, bookings, refunds, transfers, and other customer-affecting actions are not executed directly from a written reply by default.
* Destructive or customer-affecting actions require confirmation before execution when a safe written-channel action is available.
* Prompt and settings mutations are blocked.
* If the AI cannot safely complete an action, it collects the details and creates follow-up work for your team.

## Set Up AI Responses

Use the channel setup pages to turn on written AI responses:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="SMS Setup" icon="message-square-text" href="/advanced/sms-setup">
    Register texting, choose your sender number, and enable AI text responses.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Email Setup" icon="mail" href="/advanced/email-setup">
    Connect email forwarding, verify your sending domain, and enable AI email responses.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>