Why Keyword Flows Don't Work With AI (And What To Do Instead)

You can't run Keyword Flows and AI simultaneously on the same channel.
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Both the AI and Keyword Flows respond to customer messages.
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If someone types "hi":

This creates confusion and a poor experience.
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When you activate AI on a channel, Spur automatically disables Keyword Flows on that channel.
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It will show up like this.
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But this is not to be worried about. This actually prevents double responses and conflicting messages.
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What we suggest is keeping the AI live on these channels as it is and letting it do the work instead of the key word flows that were active earlier.

Good news: Your non-keyword flows continue working normally.

Flows like these are completely unaffected:

✅ COD to Prepaid
✅ Order Confirmation
✅ Shipping Updates
✅ Delivery Notifications
✅ Abandoned Checkout
✅ Review Collection

These flows aren't keyword based. They don't wait for customers to say specific words.

Instead, they trigger automatically when events happen in real time:

Since these flows respond to system events (not customer messages), there's no conflict with the AI. Both can run together without issues.

Only keyword triggered flows (those waiting for specific words to be said by customers) get disabled when AI is on.
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The AI is smarter and more flexible than keyword matching:
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✅ Understands context, not just exact words
✅ Handles variations naturally (hi, hello, hey)
✅ Responds appropriately to complex queries
✅ Creates smoother customer experiences
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Keyword flows are rigid, they only fire on exact matches.
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No problem. You can still trigger specific flows based on keywords, just do it through the AI using custom actions.
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Tell the AI via a custom action under ''when to use this action'':

"When someone says 'hi' or 'hello', trigger this flow"

The AI listens for those words and executes your predefined automation.

Benefits:

Full guide on triggering automations with AI custom actions.

Keyword flows + AI on the same channel = double responses and confusion.

Spur disables keyword flows when AI is on.

Want keyword triggers? Use AI custom actions instead, smarter, cleaner, and just as effective.