How do I take over a chat from the AI?

Human takeover means the AI goes quiet for one person so you can talk to them yourself.

Before you start

• You need a live flow with an AI Reply step (Trendsetter and above).
• InstantDM has no inbox. You reply to the person in the Instagram app (or your usual inbox).

Steps

1. Click Contacts in the left sidebar and choose Instagram at the top.
2. Find the person. The search box only searches the 25 rows on screen, so use Filter by flow with your AI flow, or page with Next →.
3. In the Human takeover column, switch the person to Human. You’ll see “Human takeover ON — AI will stay silent for this contact.”
   • Or click the person’s name and use the Human takeover switch in their panel (“AI flows stay silent while this is on.”).
   • Or open Flow Automation, click the people icon (tooltip View contacts) on the AI flow, and use the Takeover switch.
4. Reply to them yourself in Instagram.
5. When you’re done, switch them back. You’ll see “Handed back to AI.” The AI answers their next message.

The AI’s own handover

The AI Reply step has a Human takeover switch, on by default.

• On: “the AI can hand the chat to your team (e.g. refunds, angry customers). It sends a handoff message and stops replying until you resume AI.” It hands over when the person is upset, asks for a refund, asks for a human, or the AI can’t solve the problem, or when your instructions say so.
• Off: “the AI never hands over and always replies to every message.”

When the AI hands over, the person shows as Human in Contacts, and their AI timeline shows “Human takeover”. Any planned AI follow-ups are cancelled.

On the phone app

You can’t switch takeover in the InstantDM app. In the app, Flows → an AI flow shows each contact’s AI timeline. Use the web app at app.instantdm.com to switch someone to Human or back.

What your followers see

• When you switch them to Human: nothing. The AI simply stops answering.
• When the AI hands over: a short message in their language, like “I’ll connect you with our team right away”.

Good to know

• Takeover is per person, on this account, and covers every AI flow for that person.
• It only silences AI Reply steps. Other flows and automations still run for that person. To stop everything, see stop automations for one person.
• The Human takeover column shows when no flow filter is set, or when the filter is an AI flow.
• You don’t get an alert when the AI hands over. Check Contacts or Insights → AI Performance (it counts takeovers).

What you can’t do

• Pause the AI by replying from Instagram.
• Get notified about handovers.
• Send a handover to a specific team member.
• Pause the AI for a set time only.
• Reply from inside InstantDM.

How to turn it off

Switch the person back from Human in Contacts, or in the flow’s Takeover column. To stop the AI for everyone, switch off the flow in Flow Automation and click Yes, Unpublish.

If it doesn’t work

• “Couldn’t update takeover.” and the switch flips back → the change wasn’t saved. Reload the page and try again.
• I replied in Instagram and the AI kept talking → that’s expected. Switch the person to Human first.
• I can’t see the Human takeover column → clear the flow filter or pick an AI flow in Filter by flow.
• The AI said “I’ll connect you with our team” and went quiet → it handed over. Reply yourself, then switch the person back. To stop handovers, turn off Human takeover in the AI Reply step and click Set Live.