Twilio, the infrastructure for customer engagement in the AI era, has unveiled its 2026 Customer Insights Series, a collection of insights revealing how AI is reshaping customer engagement. The global survey reveals a major disconnect between how businesses evaluate their AI customer service and how consumers experience it.
Twilio unveils its 2026 Customer Insights Series on AI and customer engagement
86% of companies believe customers are satisfied with their AI-powered customer service, but just 51% of consumers agree
AI agents now handle half of customer service interactions, expected to reach 63% by 2027
76% of consumers feel an AI agent should identify itself at the beginning of a conversation, but only 32% of businesses prioritize AI transparency
78% of consumers say they've tried to bypass AI agents to speak directly to a human
91% of brands report a drop in customer satisfaction resulting from AI errors
The global survey reveals a major disconnect between how businesses evaluate their AI customer service and how consumers experience it. Across key areas of transparency, customer context, empathy, and value, companies often measure success solely by speed and efficiency. However, customers expect more than fast answers: they want to feel recognized, understood, and genuinely helped.
Key findings from the report show AI is quickly taking on a growing share of customer support for brands. AI agents now handle half of customer service interactions with this figure expected to reach 63% by 2027.
Consumers prefer AI disclosures early and often: 76% of consumers feel an AI agent should identify itself at the beginning of a conversation, but only 32% of businesses say they actively prioritize AI transparency when designing agents.
Consumers want a human on demand: 63% of consumers want a quick, easy way to escalate to a live person at any time and 78% say they've tried to bypass AI agents to speak directly to a human.
Lost context leads to lost satisfaction: 99% of companies state major challenges prevent them from fully understanding their customers. The biggest challenge is connecting customer data across disparate channels like voice, email, and messaging. 91% of brands report a drop in customer satisfaction resulting from AI errors, like lost context between channels or past interactions.
Personalized interactions matter: 98% of organizations are training AI to behave and communicate in a human way. However, while 73% of brands believe that consumers want AI with more human characteristics, only 54% of consumers report the same. Additionally, 91% of consumers say personalized AI interactions feel more real, and the top driver of authenticity is when a brand acknowledges their specific needs or problem.
Customers feel valued when AI actually helps: 55% of consumers feel that as long as AI is intelligent enough to help them, they still feel valued by the company using it. 64% report that the AI chatbots they've interacted with have improved over the last year, and 34% are more likely to choose an AI chatbot over a human than they were a year ago.
"Successfully getting AI into production is the first hurdle for brands, but the next one is whether customers can feel the difference in their interactions," said Chris Koehler, Chief Marketing Officer at Twilio. "Right now, too many organizations are rating their AI on a scale that their customers aren't actually using, and closing this gap means embracing what customers have been asking for all along: transparency, retained context, and an easy way to connect with real humans when needed."
The Twilio Customer Insights Series consists of:
How to Scale Automation Without Losing Customer Confidence
Navigating the Data Deluge: A Compass for Customer Context
The Great AI Illusion: Why Customers Value Empathy Over Imitation
Is AI Adding Value to the Customer Experience—or Taking It Away?
About Twilio Inc.
Twilio is the infrastructure for customer engagement in the AI era. By combining global communications, memory, and AI orchestration with identity, governance, and observability, Twilio enables businesses to deliver continuous, contextual, personal, and secure conversations across every channel and participant—human or AI.
