Moving from intent-based bots to proactive AI agents

Zendesk has helped businesses deliver great customer experiences for over a decade. Its platform powers more than 4.6 billion resolutions each year.

In early 2023, Zendesk began working closely with OpenAI to explore how AI could reshape service and product development. Today Zendesk is piloting a new class of AI agents⁠(opens in a new window), powered by OpenAI models, that not only manage entire conversations but plan and execute responses autonomously: 

• Reducing setup time from days to minutes

• Increasing automation rates toward 80%

• Giving teams full control over how the AI behaves

Moving from intent-based bots to proactive AI agents

Even the most sophisticated service platforms face limitations when it comes to traditional automation. The standard model relied on intent classification: predict an intent, trigger a predefined dialogue or workflow, and hope the customer followed the script.

This setup worked for structured interactions, but broke down quickly with nuance, follow-ups, or edge cases.

“The old world was message in, response out,” says Adrian McDermott, CTO at Zendesk. “Real customers change their minds, ask clarifying questions, and expect the AI to follow along naturally. In service, the only outcome that matters is resolution, and until now, bots have been somewhat limited in their ability to achieve it.”

Zendesk began working with OpenAI to adopt a generative approach using Retrieval-Augmented generation (RAG) for basic FAQ interactions. Today, their focus has shifted to generative reasoning that enables AI agents to plan and execute tasks independently.

A new class of AI agents, built for resolution

Zendesk’s new class of agentic AI agents is purpose-built for service. Powered by OpenAI models like GPT‑4o, the agents don’t just answer questions—they lead conversations, reason through context, and drive toward resolution.

The platform leverages a multi-agent architecture comprising of specialized agents such as: