A new Zendesk report reveals the growing gap between AI promises and reality in customer experience.
Customer service is at a breaking point. While companies race to implement AI solutions, consumers are increasingly frustrated with the results. According to Zendesk’s 2026 CX Trends report, which surveyed over 11,000 people across 22 countries, 83% of consumers believe customer experience should be far better than it currently is.
The AI Disconnect
The report exposes a stark reality: early AI implementations in customer service have largely failed to deliver. Despite initial excitement about AI-powered hyper-personalization and seamless interactions, most consumers remain unsatisfied with their experiences. The problem isn’t AI itself – it’s how companies are deploying it.
The solution, according to the research, lies in “contextual intelligence” – next-generation AI built on unified, cross-functional knowledge that can understand not just facts, but tone, timing, and intent across every customer interaction.
Memory Matters More Than Ever
One of the report’s key findings centers on “memory-rich AI” – technology that retains details from previous interactions across all channels. A staggering 67% of consumers believe brands should offer more personalized service now that AI can analyze their interactions, yet 74% find it very frustrating when they’re forced to repeat themselves.
High-maturity organizations implementing memory-rich AI are seeing significant gains: they’re twice as likely to report higher customer satisfaction scores and 1.6 times more likely to deploy this technology than average organizations.
Speed Is No Longer Enough
The report reveals that 74% of consumers now expect 24/7 customer service availability thanks to AI. But availability alone doesn’t cut it – 85% of CX leaders say customers will abandon brands that can’t resolve issues on first contact, regardless of channel.
Economic challenges compound this pressure, as 93% of CX leaders report changes in customer behavior, including increased price sensitivity and higher support demands.
The Multimodal Revolution
Today’s customers want to communicate using whatever medium works best – text, voice, images, or video – all within the same conversation thread. The report found that 76% of consumers would choose a company if they could seamlessly drop text, images, and video into the same thread without having to restart.
Forward-thinking companies like Leboncoin have already embraced this approach, boosting customer satisfaction to 80% by expanding beyond voice to include video and screen sharing.
Transparency Is Non-Negotiable
Perhaps most striking is the demand for AI transparency. While 95% of consumers want to understand why AI makes certain decisions, only 37% of organizations currently provide customers or agents with a rationale behind automated decisions. Demands for greater transparency have surged 63% from just last year.
The Competitive Advantage
The report identifies a widening gap between high-maturity and low-maturity organizations. Companies that invest in proper AI training, change management, and contextual intelligence are pulling dramatically ahead. Among high-maturity organizations, 96% report that AI materially accelerates response and resolution times, compared with just 60% among low-maturity organizations.
The Bottom Line
As 74% of CX leaders acknowledge, organizations that fail to rapidly adopt sophisticated AI risk losing a competitive edge in today’s economy. The message is clear: basic AI automation isn’t enough anymore. Companies must invest in memory-rich, transparent, multimodal AI solutions powered by connected knowledge – or risk losing customers to competitors who do.
