Designing safe AI handoffs to humans
The best agentic systems know their limits. A playbook for handing a conversation to a person at the right moment — with full context, not a cold restart.
Automation isn't about removing people — it's about routing the right conversations to them at the right time. A good handoff feels seamless; a bad one makes the customer start over.
When to hand off
- The customer explicitly asks for a person.
- Sentiment drops or frustration rises.
- The task needs an action the agent isn't allowed to take.
Hand off the context, not just the chat
The human should inherit the full thread, the customer's intent, and what the agent already tried — so they pick up mid-stride.
A handoff is a transfer of context, not a transfer of blame.
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