Genesys CEO: How empathetic AI can expand our humanity amid economic uncertainty
In light of US tariff announcements and growing economic uncertainty, businesses instinctivelyEfficiency measuresSurvive potential confusion. And while efficiency is important, it’s empathy – it along with operational rigor – determines who will flourish.
In an age increasingly shaped by AI, the most memorable customer experiences leverage the power of “and” – they are fast and Humans, automation and Deeply personal. What is seen and understood is not at odds with scale. That’s what enhances that.
From transactions to trust
Over the past decade, organizations have invested in technology to ensure customer service is faster, more consistent and less dependent on human intervention.
Automated chatbots and self-service tools have become common, but many experiences still feel impersonal and often frustrating. That’s because they were built for efficiency, not empathy.
However, businesses are moving from a service economy where value is measured by speed and volume to an experiential economy where value is created through emotional resonance, trust and personalization.
This concept of “experience economy” was first introduced by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore. In their words, “Work is theatre, and all business is the stage.” That framing may sound dramatic, but now it’s more relevant than ever. Consumers don’t just buy results. They buy how those outcomes feel.
It’s an easy shift to see in our daily lives. Choose a coffee shop to not only make the quality of the coffee, but also the space makes us feel. Return to the brand that remembers our preferences. Tell a friend about an airline that makes it easier to navigate frustrating delays clearly. These experiences create differentiation in a world where many services are commoditized. In fact, according to ainvestigationWe conducted in 2024. 30% of consumers say they have stopped using the brand after negative experiences over the past year.
Five levels of experience
Technology has historically lagged behind this evolution, but it has also changed. Nowadays, artificial intelligence can understand emotions, adapt to behavior in real time, and personalize all interactions. This evolution requires more than an incremental upgrade. There needs to be a new approach that is designed to make conversations between channels, moments and touchpoints feel seamless, personalized and emotionally intelligent.
To understand how organizations are navigating this shift, we developed a five-level maturity model that moves from basic transactions to fully organized, emotionally intelligent experiences.
Levels 1 and 2:It relies on rigid, rule-based systems such as legacy phone trees and entry-level chatbots to handle simple customer requests. These interactions are often silent, reactive and limited adaptive ability.
Level 3: Integrate predictive and generative AI to personalize interactions in real time. Virtual assistants don’t just answer questions. Start predicting needs, resolve problems proactively, and adapt in context.
Agent AI is a bridge to the highest level of experience orchestration, allowing the system to take initiatives, make decisions, coordinate actions across the channel, paving the way for emotionally intelligent and fully organized experiences.
Level 4:AI begins to reflect emotional intelligence. Detect tone and emotion, respond with appropriate empathy, and switch communication styles based on customer preferences and language. This allows the system to handle more complex and emotionally charged conversations, such as resolving claim disputes and managing delayed flights without losing human touch.
Level 5: Universal Orchestration. This is an ambitious frontier. AI is adaptive and predictive, allowing you to act as a kind of personalized virtual concierge with a comprehensive understanding of individuals across time and channels. For many industries, they are poised to become a competitive order.
The economic value of empathy
There is no doubt that automation and augmentation will drive real value. Companies that implement AI-driven tools to handle everyday customer interactions and provide real-time employee support often see meaningful improvements in efficiency, cost savings, and scalability, which also encourage employee engagement and customer satisfaction.
But the real awards go beyond efficiency and loyalty.
When businesses invest in empathic AI that can personalize their experiences, optimize their journeys and promote trust, they unleash new levels of potential economic impact. Consider a regional bank with a thousand customer service agents. By editing empathic AI capabilities into its operations, you can not only reduce churn and improve employee retention, but also create new topline opportunities through more effective upselling, cross-sellers and long-term customer loyalty.
Empathy can be paid in a very realistic way.
Empathy through design
Empathy is often considered a unique human characteristic. However, in the AI context, it becomes both a design challenge and a philosophical challenge.
Building emotionally intelligent systems requires a training model to recognize more than just words. They have to interpret tone, pace, hesitation and emotions. They need to connect different data points to understand the context, such as why the customers are calling, how they feel, and what they have experienced before.
Now some of the more advanced systems match customers with agents based on emotional state and skill compatibility, provide aggressive help before issues escalate, and adjust tone in real time. It also allows for continuous learning to improve interactions using journey data and improve the experience over time.
This is a new kind of intelligence. This is sympathy for the design.
The future of AI humans
One thing becomes clear as we move further into an experience economy that experiences an era of macroeconomic tailwinds and headwinds. Being a human is a business advantage. in fact,ForesterAnalysis shows that companies that improve CX can drive significant revenue growth.
The most valuable experiences in life and business are those that make us feel seen, understood and valued. They help turn customers into loyalists and turn brands into beacons. Empathy is not a feature. It’s the future. And when AI builds that truth to the heart, it helps us provide something really powerful: technology that expands our services and expands our humanity.
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