Decide what your chatbot is allowed to answer
The chatbot mode sets the boundary: your own content only, general knowledge, or both. Pick the one that matches how much freedom you want to give it.
Read this when the bot answers too much, too little, or wanders away from what your business actually offers. It is also where you write the prompt, switch on small talk, and link your own OpenAI Chat.
Step by step
Open the mode setting
Go to Settings > Artificial Intelligence > OpenAI > Chatbot mode. The mode you choose here decides which questions the bot will take on.
Choose the boundary you want
Only general questions answers general questions and questions about earlier messages in the same conversation, ignoring your sources. This is the default. Only questions related to your sources answers only from the content you trained it on. All questions covers your sources, general questions and conversation context, and is the one we recommend.
Write the prompt
The Prompt holds your instructions for how the AI should answer. Your training sources work alongside it, so use the prompt for tone and rules rather than facts. If human takeover is on, the prompt must include this line: Respond "I don't know", if not sure about the answer.
Add small talk and a fallback
Small talk gives pre-built casual replies to things like "Hello" and "How are you?", so the bot feels human rather than purely task-focused. The Fallback message is what gets sent when the AI cannot understand the question.
Connect an OpenAI Chat if you have one
Set Chatbot mode to Chat and enter the Chat ID to use your own hosted OpenAI Chat. On our cloud this needs Manual sync mode with your own API key.
Link chats to departments
To run more than one chat, use Settings > Artificial Intelligence > OpenAI Chats - Department linking and set the mode to Chats. Both the chat and the conversation have to be assigned to a department for the match to work.
Settings reference
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Chatbot mode | Sets which questions the bot answers, at Settings > Artificial Intelligence > OpenAI > Chatbot mode. |
| Only general questions | Answers general questions and questions about earlier messages in the same conversation, ignoring your sources. This is the default. |
| Only questions related to your sources | Answers only from the content you trained the bot on. |
| All questions | Combines your sources, general questions and conversation context. Recommended. |
| Chat | Uses your own hosted OpenAI Chat instead of the standard chatbot. |
| Chat ID | The identifier of the OpenAI Chat you want the bot to use in Chat mode. |
| OpenAI Chats - Department linking | Links several OpenAI Chats to departments, at Settings > Artificial Intelligence > OpenAI Chats - Department linking, with the mode set to Chats. |
| Small talk | Turns on pre-built casual and social replies so the bot handles greetings naturally. |
| Fallback message | The reply sent when the AI cannot understand the question. |
| Prompt | Your instructions telling the AI how to answer; it works alongside your training sources. |
| temperature | An OpenAI parameter you can tune; leave it blank unless you know what it does. |
| logit_bias | An OpenAI parameter that must be a JSON string with string keys, for example {"2435":-100}; leave it blank unless you know what it does. |
Good to know
Human takeover needs one line in the prompt
If human takeover is on, your prompt must contain: Respond "I don't know", if not sure about the answer. Without it, the bot has no way to admit defeat and hand over.
The default is narrower than people expect
Only general questions is the default, and it ignores your training sources entirely. If you have trained the bot and it still answers generically, this is usually why.
Chat mode needs your own API key
On our cloud, using an OpenAI Chat requires Manual sync mode with your own OpenAI API key. You cannot run Chat mode on Automatic sync.
OpenAI Chats do not power everything
Chats are used for the chatbot and smart replies only. They do not drive message rewriting or the other AI features.
Department linking is a two-sided match
For a linked chat to be used, both the chat and the conversation must be assigned to a department. Miss either side and nothing happens.
Leave the tuning parameters alone
Temperature and logit_bias are there for people who already know them. Blank is the right value for most businesses.
Common questions
Which mode should I choose?
Why does the bot ignore what I trained it on?
Can I stop the bot answering anything outside my business?
Does the prompt replace my training sources?
What happens when the AI cannot understand a question?
How do I use my own OpenAI Chat?
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