Zendesk CTO Adrian McDermott believes AI will fundamentally transform customer experience (CX) within the next few years, with 100% of all customer interactions involving AI in some way for every Zendesk customer.
Key findings from Zendesk’s Future of AI-powered CX report: The report surveyed over 1,300 senior CX leaders, revealing strong interest and optimism about AI’s impact on CX:
- 81% of CX leaders believe AI will change CX for the better.
- 86% believe CX will be utterly transformed over the next three years due to AI.
- 77% think traditional CX will give way to radically different industry dynamics under AI’s influence.
The importance of maintaining the human touch: Despite the increasing prevalence of AI in CX, McDermott emphasized that human conversations will remain extremely important:
- Proper journey design and escalation protocols are crucial in AI-driven customer service.
- Zendesk’s acquisition of Klaus, a Quality Assurance company, allows monitoring of both human and bot interactions to ensure the human experience isn’t lost.
- Human jobs in customer service will become more complex, requiring supportive AI tools.
The three stages of AI implementation in CX: McDermott outlined a gradual process for companies adopting AI in customer service:
- Human-in-the-middle: AI assists human agents, improving efficiency and consistency.
- Concierge implementation: AI handles initial interactions and simple queries, with human escalation as needed.
- Expanded automation: Increased AI handling of customer interactions, with continuous quality monitoring.
Looking ahead: While McDermott expects significant changes in the industry’s comfort level with AI over the next year, he cautions that the transformation will be an evolution that takes time:
- More companies will gain production experience with AI in CX, driving greater adoption and trust.
- However, the shift towards fully AI-driven customer service will be gradual, not an overnight revolution.
Analyzing deeper: Zendesk’s report highlights the growing enthusiasm for AI in CX, but also underscores the challenges in navigating this transformation while maintaining a human touch. As companies progress through the stages of AI implementation, striking the right balance between automation and human interaction will be critical. The acquisition of Klaus shows Zendesk’s commitment to ensuring quality across both human and AI-driven customer service. However, questions remain about how companies will manage the increasing complexity of human roles in an AI-dominated CX landscape, and how they will address potential customer concerns about interacting with AI. The journey towards AI-powered CX is well underway, but the path is likely to be one of evolution rather than revolution.
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...