AI steps in workflows

An Ask AI step lets a workflow read a ticket and choose one answer from a list you write, such as “Needs a technician now” or “Routine”. Later If / Else steps branch on the answer. The step can also leave an internal note with its reasoning, write a draft reply for a technician to review, and add tags from a list you allow. This page covers what an AI step needs, what it can and cannot do, and what happens to the ticket data it reads.

Before you begin

An AI step runs only when all three of these are true. Otherwise it takes its fallback.

• AI is set up. Pioneer AI has a working source on Settings > AI. See Set up Pioneer AI.
• Proactive AI features is on. It is a switch on the Pioneer AI card on Settings > AI, off until an owner turns it on. It needs ai:manage.
• AI is on for the client. On the MSP plan, the client’s Pioneer AI setting must leave AI on for that client. See Choose which clients get Pioneer AI.

When either of the first two is off, the builder shows Ask AI steps as unavailable with the reason and an Open AI settings link. You can still save and edit a workflow that has an AI step: the step takes its fallback until AI is available. A workflow with an AI step also shows AI is not available, so its steps take their fallback. as a health warning.

Add an AI step

1. In the workflow’s Steps, select Add step > Ask AI.
2. In What to ask, write the question. Use Insert placeholder to include ticket details, such as {{ticket.subject}} or {{ticket.first_message}}. The ticket details are sent only through the placeholders you insert.
3. Under Answers it can choose from, enter 2 to 12 answers. Each has a label, such as Waiting on us, and a short value, such as waiting.
4. Under What it may write, choose any of:
   • An internal note with its reasoning;
   • A draft reply a technician can review and send;
   • Tags it may add: a comma-separated list of up to 20 tags. It can add only tags from this list.
5. Under If AI is off, fails or answers off the list, add the fallback steps, such as Notify people to tell the assignee to look at the ticket by hand.
6. To act on the answer, add an If / Else step after it, choose The AI’s answer, choose this AI step, and select the answers that take Then.

A workflow holds up to 2 AI steps. An AI step cannot sit inside another AI step’s fallback.

What an AI step can do

Output	Where it appears
An answer from your list	Nowhere on the ticket. If / Else steps branch on it, and the Runs tab shows it.
An internal note	An internal note signed with the workflow’s name and (AI). Clients never see it.
A draft reply	An internal note with an AI draft chip and a Use as reply button. Selecting Use as reply copies the text into the reply box for the technician to edit and send. The note stays as it is.
Tags	Added to the ticket, only from your allowed list.

Notes and drafts are capped at 4,000 characters.

What an AI step can never do

An AI step never sends anything to a client. A draft reply reaches the client only when a technician sends it.

The Then and Else steps of a branch on an AI answer, at any depth, cannot:

• close or solve the ticket;
• email anyone with an Email an address step;
• notify the requester, people copied on the ticket, or the client’s primary contact;
• create a ticket.

The builder does not offer Create a ticket or Email an address there, and a workflow that contains any of these is refused when you save it. Branches on an AI answer can still route, tag, add notes, and notify your team. A status that counts as solved or closed in some client is also checked when the step runs, and skipped as An AI branch tried to close the ticket.

The fallback steps are not restricted, because they run when AI did not decide anything.

The fallback

The fallback steps run instead of the AI step’s outputs when AI does not give a usable answer. When the step falls back, If / Else steps that branch on its answer take neither branch. The Runs tab shows Took the AI fallback with one of these reasons:

Reason	What happened
AI is off	No AI source is set up or usable.
Proactive AI is off	Proactive AI features is off.
AI is off for this client	The client’s Pioneer AI setting is off.
AI timed out	The model did not answer within 45 seconds.
AI answered off the list	The model chose an answer that is not on your list.
AI answer could not be read	The model’s reply was not in the expected format.
AI budget used up	The month’s AI budget is spent.
AI request failed	Any other error.

When an AI step fails 5 times in an hour in one client with a timeout, an off-list answer, an unreadable answer, or another error, Outpost pauses the workflow and notifies everyone with automation:manage. AI being off or the budget being used up does not pause it. See Resume a paused workflow.

When it runs

A workflow with an AI step does not run inside the ticket change. The ticket is saved first, and the workflow runs a few moments later, so nobody waits on the model.

A test never calls AI. It shows that both outcomes are possible.

Cost and usage

Each AI step is one call to the AI source on Settings > AI, at its standard tier. Calls count against the same monthly budget as Pioneer AI. When the budget is used up, AI steps take their fallback with AI budget used up.

To see what AI steps used, go to Settings > AI > Usage:

• Grouped by Feature, all AI steps are one row, Workflow AI steps.
• Grouped by Person, each workflow is its own row, Workflow: followed by its name, or Workflow (deleted) for a workflow that no longer exists.

See Pioneer AI usage.

The Runs tab shows each run’s answer or fallback reason.

Data and privacy

• What is sent. The workflow’s name, your answers list, your question, and the ticket details your placeholders fill in. {{ticket.first_message}} sends the ticket’s first message, up to 4,000 characters. The data goes to the AI source you set up, the same as for Pioneer AI. See Pioneer AI data and privacy.
• Ticket text is treated as untrusted. It is sent marked as data, and the model is told never to follow instructions inside it. Its answer is checked strictly against your list and your allowed tags.
• What is kept. Outpost does not store the prompt it sent or the model’s reply. It keeps what the step writes to the ticket (the note, the draft, and the tags) and, in the workflow’s run log, the answer, the model, and the token counts.
• Audit. Each AI step adds an entry to the audit log with the workflow, the step, the answer or fallback reason, the model, and the token counts. It holds no ticket text. See Audit log.

Verify

1. Turn the workflow on and trigger it on a test ticket.
2. Open the ticket. An internal note signed with the workflow’s name and (AI) appears when the step writes a note.
3. Open the workflow’s Runs tab. The run shows AI answered followed by the answer’s value, or AI fell back followed by the reason.

Next steps

• Build a workflow
• Workflow reference
• Set up Pioneer AI