Possibly yes,
An automation rule with a note added to the ticket of “Response SLA” But I would need a bit more details on your existing automation email.
Hey mate,
The automation is pretty basic. It just says “When the “agent” field is set to something from being blank → and it matches a handful of group criteria → email the requester a boilerplate email”.
The other thing would be to find out what actions count as a response.
I believe the only action that counts as a response is a “Reply” or a “Public Comment”.
On your automation rule, add a action add note and make sure its set to public. Or you can do the same thing with the email action. I prefer the not action myself.
That will count as a response and clear the SLA requirement.