UiPath conversational agents: build natural, multi-turn dialogue experiences

We are incredibly excited to unveil the public preview of a powerful new capability: UiPath conversational agents. This feature provides a new way to build and interact with UiPath agents, designed specifically for natural, multi-turn dialogues.

Unlike autonomous agents, which are built to execute tasks based on a single, comprehensive user prompt, conversational agents are designed for dynamic, back-and-forth interactions. Think of them as intelligent digital assistants that can understand context, ask clarifying questions, perform tasks, and provide support through real-time conversation. Explore more here.

When should you use a conversational agent?

Use a conversational agent when your process requires interactive dialogue with users. Their core strength is maintaining context over a conversation and managing interactive flows. They are ideal for when you need to:

• Execute automations, autonomous agents, activities, and API workflows on demand.

• Guide a user interactively through a complex process.

• Answer follow-up questions based on the context of previous turns in a conversation.

• Provide a natural language interface for your applications or knowledge bases.

Key features in the public preview

• Multi-turn dialogue: Engage in dynamic, back-and-forth conversations with users, maintaining context throughout the interaction.

• Contextual grounding: Connect your agent to knowledge bases, allowing it to answer questions accurately based on your specific documents, like HR policies or product manuals.

• Seamless tool integration: Empower your agent to perform actions by connecting it to Automations, API workflows, Activities, and even other Autonomous Agents.

• Human-in-the-loop escalations: When a conversation requires another user's input, the agent can assign a task to that user via Action Center. Note: the conversation is blocked until the escalation is completed.

• Integrated development lifecycle: Build, test, and evaluate your agents in the familiar Studio Web environment, with configurations designed specifically for conversational flows.

How do conversational agents relate to UiPath Autopilot™ for Everyone?

With several chat experiences available, it's important to know which one to use and when. Here’s a quick guide.

Conversational agents vs. Autopilot for Everyone These two experiences are designed to work side-by-side; conversational agents are not a replacement for Autopilot for Everyone (A4E). Think of A4E as UiPath's general-purpose agent for productivity tasks, while conversational agents are specialists that you build for a specific use case, like an HR policy assistant. Starting with the 25.8 release, you will be able to access your specialized conversational agents directly from within A4E, making it a central hub for all your conversational needs.

Conversational agents vs. specialized autopilots While there is an overlap in purpose between these two, our recommendation is to build your use cases with conversational agents. Conversational agents provide a much richer and more robust design-time experience for building, testing, and refining your use-case specific agent. Note: conversational agents do not yet support file uploads or local desktop automation, whereas specialized autopilots do.

Getting started with conversational agents

Building a Conversational Agent involves a simple lifecycle of designing, testing, and managing its performance. For detailed instructions, please refer to the official documentation. The high-level steps are:

1. Build the agent: Use Studio Web to define the agent's instructions, connect it to knowledge and tools, and configure other features.

2. Test and evaluate: Use the integrated testing and evaluation tools to ensure the agent is reliable and accurate before deployment.

3. Publish and deploy: Publish the agent as a solution and manage its deployment through Orchestrator.

4. Access and manage: Once deployed, users can interact with your agent through Instance Management in the Agents section of Automation Cloud.

Please report any bugs or feature requests in our Insider Portal page.

The introduction of conversational agents marks a significant leap forward, offering a powerful and flexible way to create sophisticated conversational experiences. We encourage you to explore these new features and discover how they can unlock new possibilities for your organization.