Turning AI on and off

Sela has workspace switches for AI, reply switches for each channel, and a control in each conversation. Use the one that matches what you want to stop:

Open the AI assistant page from Automation, then AI assistant in the Catalog & AI section. It needs the AI Assist add-on. Without it the page shows what AI Assist does and a Get started button. See Plans and billing.

Changing either workspace switch needs permission to manage settings. Changes save immediately and are recorded in the activity log, which members who manage settings can see. Everyone else sees the switches but cannot change them.

Turn off AI for the whole workspace#

On the Overview tab, turn off AI in this workspace and confirm. This stops, straight away:

• Automatic replies to customers on every channel, including replies being written at that moment.
• Reply suggestions (Copilot) and Improve wording in the inbox composer, and pulling invoice details out of a chat.
• Learning from chats. Sela catches up on recently closed chats once AI is back on.
• Uploading files, creating smart notes, retrying and publishing in the knowledge base. You can still browse and edit what is there.
• Automatic quality review, AI product imports and the storefront manager.
• The drafting bar in the mobile app.

Your team's manual replies keep working on every channel. The assistant's identity, rules, knowledge base and reply setting are kept as they are, and no AI credits are used while AI is off.

Anywhere you try to use an AI feature while it is off, Sela says AI is turned off for this workspace. If you can manage settings, the message has a Turn on AI button.

Turn the switch back on to restore everything as it was. Replies that were stopped when you turned AI off are not sent later.

Turn off only the automatic replies#

On the Replies tab, turn off Automatic replies and confirm. The assistant stops answering customers in every conversation and channel, including replies being written at that moment. Your team answers every message.

Everything else keeps running: reply suggestions and Improve wording for your team, learning from the chats your team answers, and the knowledge base.

While AI is off for the whole workspace, this switch is locked and replies stay off. Its own setting is kept and applies again when AI is turned back on.

Turning replies back on does not send replies that were stopped in the meantime. The assistant answers the next new message.

Choose replies by channel#

On AI assistant → Replies, use Replies by channel to enable or disable automatic replies for WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, Web chat, Email and SMS separately. For example, leave WhatsApp enabled and turn Instagram and Messenger off. Each switch saves immediately and needs permission to manage settings.

Disabling a channel stops automatic AI replies on that channel. Manual replies and the team's AI drafting tools remain available. Workspace AI and Automatic replies must also be on for an enabled channel to answer. Turning those workspace switches off keeps your channel choices.

Changing a channel setting cancels stale AI turns already in progress. Replies stopped while a channel is disabled are not replayed when it is enabled again. The assistant answers the next eligible new message.

Pause or resume the assistant in one conversation#

The conversation header in the inbox has a button that shows AI on or AI off for that conversation. Select it to switch the assistant off or on in that conversation only. In a narrow window it shows only the robot icon.

• While it shows AI off, the assistant stays quiet in that conversation.
• Switching it to AI on hands the conversation back to the assistant, which answers the customer's next message. If a teammate owns the conversation or it is escalated, this releases it, because the assistant answers only conversations that nobody owns.

A reply sent from a channel's own app, such as the WhatsApp Business app or Instagram, switches that conversation to AI off. Select the button to hand it back.

For several conversations at once, select them in the inbox and choose Pause assistant or Hand to assistant.

If either workspace switch is off, the button shows an amber dot. You can still change it, and Sela keeps your choice, but the assistant will not answer until the workspace switch is back on.

For the full list of reasons the assistant stays quiet, see AI control and takeover.