The FusionCube Chatbot
In a blog post published yesterday called “The Intelligence Age” Sam Altman wrote, “Many of the jobs we do today would have looked like trifling wastes of time to people a few hundred years ago, but nobody is looking back at the past, wishing they were a lamplighter. If a lamplighter could see the world today, he would think the prosperity all around him was unimaginable.” So that begs the question, what will customer service look like in the next five years, and how will AI and customer service impact the customer experience? Today we look at where the AI investments are going to get some insight.
In an extremely upbeat assessment of the future of artificial intelligence, Altman wrote that we might have “superintelligence” in a few thousand days, and touted AI’s potential to improve humanity’s progress in areas including healthcare, education and overall prosperity.
Out of all the industries that will be disrupted, customer service has been identified as one of the first. Any tech company leaving AI out of their product road map stands to be obsolete. If a tech company claims they have AI capabilities, but the capabilities are week, the company will have egg on its face. So now there is a race toward acquisitions, M&A, and fundraising.
This week at Dreamforce Marc Benioff said he predicts one billion AI agents in service by the end of 2025 through platforms like Agentforce. A McKinsey report suggests that about 50% of customer service tasks could be automated by 2030. This includes activities like data entry, responding to standard customer questions, and handling simple troubleshooting inquiries.
Today – September 24th – UJET announced they raised $76M funding round from the company revolutionizing customer service tech with GenAI. This new funding will expand GenAI use beyond simple voice interactions by helping train GenAI models with rich media like videos and photos.
Let’s take a closer look at five companies leading the charge in AI-powered customer service, and why investors are pouring billions into their growth.
1. Anthropic
Funding Raised: $4 billion.
Who’s Investing: Amazon and Google. Anthropic, one of the frontrunners in AI development, has caught the eye of tech giants Amazon and Google, both betting big on the company’s ability to transform customer service. Anthropic’s AI models, like its Claude family, aim to deliver more human-like, intelligent conversations, making interactions feel less scripted and more natural.
2. UiPath
Funding Raised: $2 billion
Who’s Investing: Accel, Sequoia CapitalUiPath specializes in robotic process automation (RPA), which might sound technical, but in simple terms, it means letting machines handle the repetitive tasks that bog down customer service teams.
3. ASAPP
Funding Raised: $400 million
Who’s Investing: March Capital and John Doerr (his book “Measure What Matters” I reference in my own book “The 8 Laws Of Customer-Focused Leadership”). ASAPP’s platform uses AI to provide real-time suggestions during live interactions, acting as a sort of co-pilot for human agents. If an agent is struggling with a complex question or looking for the right solution, ASAPP’s AI can step in to provide instant guidance, making the conversation smoother and more efficient.
4. Zendesk
Acquired For: $10.2 billion
Who’s Investing: Permira, Hellman & Friedman.
Zendesk has long been a staple in the customer service world, but its recent acquisition by private equity firms is a signal that AI is going to play an even bigger role in its future. Zendesk’s platform already incorporates machine learning and AI to handle ticket sorting, automate responses, and even assist with live chat services.
5. Gong
Funding Raised: $750 million
Who’s Investing: Franklin Templeton, Salesforce Ventures. Gong is taking a unique approach by using AI to analyze customer conversations and extract insights that can improve future interactions. By analyzing what works in successful customer interactions, Gong helps teams refine their approach to service and sales, making each conversation better than the last.
The surge in funding for AI-powered customer service platforms is a clear sign that businesses are embracing the future of service. It’s an exciting time to follow the AI technology investments in customer service as the industry increasingly is disrupted. Only time will tell if these investments actually make customer and employee experiences better or not.
Follow Blake Morgan on LinkedIn for more AI news, and take her LinkedIn Course on change management and AI in the contact center here.
