Customer expectations are rising again. But this year, the force reshaping those expectations is impossible to ignore: artificial intelligence (AI).

The fifth edition of “The State of Customer Experience” report by Genesys, based on global surveys of 5,811 consumers and 1,560 CX and business leaders, explores how AI is rapidly changing consumer expectations — and what customer experience (CX) organisations must do to keep up.

Consumers are using AI in their personal and professional lives. They’re experiencing tools that respond quickly, adapt to context and make everyday tasks easier. And they’re starting to expect the same level of speed, intelligence and convenience when they engage with businesses for service and support. 

For CX leaders, this creates a new mandate: Deliver experiences that are faster, more connected and more empathetic while modernising operations for an AI-powered future. 

This year’s report highlights several key trends CX organisations need to watch: 

  • AI is reshaping consumer expectations: 76% of consumers believe AI will improve the quality and speed of customer service in the next two to three years. But consumers have little patience when AI-powered service fails: 84% will give a virtual agent up to three attempts to resolve their issue, and 47% would switch to another brand after only two to three bad interactions with a favourite brand.
  • CX leaders are moving from AI adoption to orchestration: AI is no longer a discrete technology initiative. It is becoming central to how organisations define CX strategy, design operations and support both customers and employees. Forty per cent of CX organisations are already using agentic AI, and 82% of CX leaders expect autonomous AI agents to likely orchestrate the customer experience within three years.
  • Human agents remain critical: AI is changing the nature of CX work, but it isn’t removing the need for human expertise. Ninety-one per cent of CX leaders expect human agents to remain a critical part of delivering CX three years from now. And 90% expect human-agent interactions to become more complex or emotionally charged.
  • Readiness is the new barrier to CX transformation: CX leaders are investing in AI, but scaling it remains difficult. Keeping up with the pace of AI innovation and managing data for AI are tied as the top technology challenges facing CX organisations, each cited by 46% of CX leaders. And only 31% of CX infrastructure is fully in the cloud, creating a barrier to real-time orchestration and connected customer journeys.

These findings point to a clear trend: The next era of CX isn’t being defined by whether organisations adopt AI. It is increasingly defined by whether they can turn AI into connected, trusted and measurable customer outcomes. 

 

AI Is Raising the Bar for Customer Experience

Consumers no longer compare an organisation’s CX only to that of its direct competitors. They compare it to the best experience they’ve had anywhere.

That raises the stakes for every organisation. In this year’s survey, 92% of consumers say they expect every organisation to deliver an experience on par with the best they’ve ever had. In other words, great CX is no longer defined by industry standards or direct competitors. It’s defined by the fastest, easiest and most connected experiences consumers encounter. 

AI is further changing what “great” looks like. Just over half of consumers use AI at least weekly in their personal life, at 52%, or at work, at 53%. As consumers grow more accustomed to intelligent tools that provide faster answers and more convenient experiences, they bring those expectations into customer service interactions. 

But consumer openness to AI comes with a condition: AI needs to work well. When it helps resolve service issues quickly and completely, it can build confidence. When it repeats failed attempts, loses context or makes it difficult to reach a human agent, trust can erode just as quickly. 

 

From AI Adoption to Orchestration

As more CX leaders recognise the importance of this shift, AI is becoming central to CX strategy and investment. Increasing customer value and loyalty is the top strategic priority for CX leaders over the next two years, cited by 35% globally. But the broader priority list shows how closely loyalty and retention are now tied to AI, modernisation and workforce transformation. CX leaders are also prioritising talent equipped to work alongside AI, modernising their CX technology stacks, scaling AI adoption, expanding AI-powered self-service and automating CX workflows.  

This marks a larger change in how CX work gets done. Organisations are not simply using AI to make individual interactions faster. They’re beginning to redesign CX around a more intelligent operating model — one that uses AI to orchestrate customer and employee experiences, improve service quality and deliver greater efficiency at scale.  

Agentic AI is accelerating this shift. Traditional automation often focuses on discrete tasks. Agentic AI can interpret goals, plan multi-step actions, reason and adapt. When combined with the right data, governance and platform foundation, these capabilities can help CX organisations move from managing interactions to orchestrating outcome-driven experiences across the customer journey.

 

What CX Leaders Should Watch Next

The findings point to a clear takeaway: delivering on rising consumer expectations requires more than deploying AI. It also requires orchestrating experiences across channels, systems, data and people. 

The full report explores five key recommendations for building towards that model:

  • Modernise CX with a unified platform 
  • Design for the full journey, not individual interactions 
  • Build the hybrid workforce with intention 
  • Embrace agentic orchestration 

Together, these priorities reflect the shift from using AI in isolated interactions to orchestrating seamless journeys spanning customer intent to resolution. 

 

Explore the Full 2026 State of CX Report

The “State of Customer Experience 2026” report explores these shifts in depth, including how consumer expectations are changing, where CX leaders are investing, why AI readiness remains a challenge and how regional trends differ across global markets. 

The findings point to a key takeaway: Tomorrow’s CX is not being defined by AI adoption alone. It’s also being defined by how well organisations connect AI with the people, data, platforms and governance required to deliver experiences that are efficient, empathetic and trusted. 

Download the full report to explore both the global and regional findings, and learn how today’s CX leaders are preparing for the agentic era of customer experience.
 

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