Home AI agent Preview: AI agent and Playground explained

Preview: AI agent and Playground explained

By Karri Koivuniemi • Last updated on Mar 19, 2025

THIS ARTICLE IS IN PREVIEW FOR OUR UPCOMING AI AGENT FEATURES.

The AI agent is your automated support assistant, designed to handle customer inquiries by pulling information from various knowledge sources and responding accordingly.

The Playground is where you test and refine your AI’s performance in a controlled environment.


AI Agent: What It Does

  • Responds to customer queries based on knowledge sources like AI training responses, canned responses, help articles and Shopify pages & products.

  • Uses intent rules to ensure specific instructions are followed when detecting key customer intents.

  • Can take actions like assigning agents, tagging conversations, and resolving tickets based on predefined rules.

  • Continuously improves by learning from AI training responses and updated knowledge sources.

Learn more about training your AI agent


Customizing Your AI Agent

You can personalize your AI agent on the AI agent settings page by

  • Defining the Agent persona to set tone and communication style.

  • Naming your AI agent to match your brand voice.

  • Adding a profile picture for a more personalized touch.

  • Creating a signature that appears in every AI message.

  • Setting up a fallback message for when the AI doesn’t recognize an intent, ensuring seamless escalation to a human agent.


Playground: A Safe Testing Environment

The Playground allows you to test and debug your AI agent before deploying it in real customer interactions.

You can:

  • Chat with your AI to see how it responds in different situations.

  • Replay past conversations to check how your AI would handle real customer messages.

  • Edit intent rules and training responses in real time to fine-tune performance.

  • Debug AI replies using the sources modal (</>), which shows what data the AI used to generate a response.

Learn how to use the Playground


Debugging and Optimization

If the AI response isn’t ideal, you can:

Open the Sources modal (</>) to see what knowledge the AI used.

Adjust intent rules or AI training responses to guide future replies.

Exclude outdated or misleading information from the Knowledge page.

By understanding how the AI agent and Playground work together, you can ensure your AI delivers accurate, helpful, and consistent customer support.