Zendesk and Meta acquisitions + AI’s labor market impact

AI Insights

Kustomer launches next generation AI for Customers and AI reasoning engine

This week, we launched the next evolution of Kustomer AI - two major innovations designed to transform how customer experience teams operate.

AI for Customers:
Powered by our new AI reasoning engine, we’ve redesigned it to adapt to human nuance while executing precise workflows, resolving issues faster and delivering the outcomes customers actually want. Unlike other platforms, we offer both flexibility and control.

Kustomer AI for any helpdesk:
For the first time, Kustomer AI can operate as an intelligence layer inside the helpdesk you already use. You won’t need to completely overhaul your CX systems. We’re starting with Zendesk with additional integrations coming soon.

• Your workflows stay intact.
• Your reporting stays intact.
• Your teams continue working where they are today.

But now, you can unlock enterprise-grade automation and intelligence.

No duplicate tickets. No conflicting records. No messy synchronization issues.

We’re just getting started. Expect even more innovation from us across the Kustomer AI platform.

But it gets even better: To make adoption simple, we are offering a free 30 day trial so Zendesk customers can experience Kustomer AI firsthand inside their own environment.

There’s no reason not to check it out. Snag your free trial here.

Zendesk enters agreement to acquire Forethought

Zendesk has entered into an agreement to acquire Forethought. Forethought users will not have to migrate to Zendesk, and new customers can still buy and use Forethought independently.

It’s always a win to see innovation in our space recognized, so a huge congrats to a successful outcome for Forethought. 

But looking at the broader landscape, this move signals something deeper about the state of AI in customer experience. When a platform relies on a patchwork of acquisitions to build its AI story, the result is often CX debt: fragmented tools, complex implementations, and a "wait-and-see" ROI.

Some CX platforms will acquire and cobble together a stack. Others will be AI-native and iterate upon the same steady foundation.

Tencent Holdings building new AI Agent for Wechat

Tencent Holdings is hoping to leapfrog rivals like Alibaba and Bytedance to dominate AI in China by building an AI agent for WeChat, with 1.4 billion monthly active users. Tencent Holdings plans to launch a trial of it by midyear and roll out the AI agent feature by the third quarter. WeChat has millions of lightweight apps inside it that power services like booking taxis and grocery ordering, and AI agents in this app could make them accessible for the masses.

CX leaders - get your systems ready to respond to consumers using AI agents to handle their shopping.

Anthropic releases report on labor market impacts from AI

Anthropic has researched the labor market impacts of AI and finds that occupations with higher levels of exposure to AI align with what the Bureau of Labor Statistics project as roles with less growth through 2034. The top of the list: computer programmers. The second: customer service representatives.

They found no systematic increase in unemployment but note that evidence suggests slowed hiring of younger, entry-level workers.

However, it’s important to note in CX, Harvard Business Review shares that customer experience work hasn’t reduced; instead, the type of work has shifted. Humans are handling sensitive, complex issues instead of rote matters.

It’s time to upskill yourself and your team members with AI, and also explore other ways to meet customer needs and get proactive about customer experiences. 

Meta acquires AI agent social network Moltbook

No surprises here: Meta has acquired a social media network built for AI agents, Moltbook, and brought its founders into its AI research division, Meta Superintelligence Labs. Moltbook was backed by the open source bot OpenClaw.

Co-founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr launched the site as an experiment in late January, and the similar-to-Reddit site was a place where AI Agents swap code and gossip about their human owners. The site had a security risk, exposing private messages, thousands of emails, and over one million credentials.

Join us at Shoptalk

Headed to Shoptalk in Vegas? We’d love to see you at the show or one of our events! Stop by booth 4043 to meet our team and grab a cold brew in the morning or a spritz in the afternoon. If you’d like to reserve time for a quick chat with our team, schedule a convenient time to chat here.


Need a pick-me-up from travel and long days on the show floor? We recommend the Attentive Refuel Lounge. Book in advance for a beauty or dry hair styling season, an IV drip, or red light masks and hand massages.

And if you had FOMO from In-N-Out at eTail, here’s your chance: on Wednesday at lunchtime, we’ll also be at the CX Mixer’s Hangover Hangout at In-N-Out - with multiple shuttles running from the show. RSVP here!

CX Insights

Zero-touch CX?

Tech Mahindra and NVIDIA announced the AI-powered Telco Network Operations Reasoning Agent at Mobile World Congress, positioning it as a way to detect, reason, and act on incidents faster. The first applications are in telecommunications, but this is a step in a direction toward a world with “zero touch” customer experience where support conversations never happen in the first place because the support is so proactive.

What do you think - will we see a world that is so proactive that customers hardly have reasons to reach out, or will customers still want the human touch when things go wrong?

Target lowering prices

Target announced that it will reduce prices on over 3,000 products ranging from apparel to everyday essentials like food and home goods, with most prices dropping between 5% to 20%.

I’ve covered Target twice recently - their CX policies and cutting jobs to re-invest in staffing stores - maybe this move shows they understand that price is where consumers are focused now. Consumers want fast lines and friendly service, but for everyday items, shoppers demonstrated it was not worth the premium.

New CEO of Kroger focused on turnaround

This CEO gets it - the new CEO of Kroger is cutting prices to deliver a better value and improving store experiences to help it grow faster. To be able to cut prices, he’s focused on improving product sourcing and modernizing processes across the business. He says it’s not a new strategy from what the interim CEO led, but moving faster.