AI Chatbot Glossary
What Is Human Handoff?
Human handoff is the process of transferring a chatbot conversation to a live agent when the bot cannot resolve an issue or the user requests human help — preserving conversation context.
Definition
The process of transferring a chatbot conversation to a live human agent when the bot cannot resolve an issue or the user requests human assistance. Effective handoff preserves conversation context so the agent can continue seamlessly without asking the customer to repeat themselves.
Why Human Handoff Matters for AI Chatbots
A chatbot without good handoff is worse than no chatbot at all — visitors get stuck in loops. The gold standard: the chatbot detects frustration or an explicit "I want a human" request, summarizes the conversation, and pushes it to Zendesk, Zoho, Slack, or email with all the context the agent needs.
Related Terms
Customer Support Automation
Customer support automation uses technology — including AI chatbots — to handle customer service inquiries without human intervention.
AI Agent
An AI agent is an autonomous software program that perceives its environment, makes decisions, and takes actions to achieve goals — going beyond simple chatbots by handling multi-step tasks.
Live Chat
Live chat is a real-time communication channel connecting website visitors to human agents — often combined with AI chatbots that handle initial inquiries.
Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis is the AI capability of detecting emotion in user messages — happiness, frustration, confusion — and triggering handoff or prioritization based on it.
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