Five9: 80% of consumers are willing to use AI-powered customer service
Even so, two-thirds prefer to speak with a person, and 83% say they have had to explain their problem all over again, at least sometimes, after being transferred to an agent.
What's happening
According to Five9's 2026 data reported by CX Today, 80% of consumers are willing to use AI-powered customer service. Yet two-thirds still prefer to speak with a human. And 83% of consumers say they have had to explain their problem all over again, at least sometimes, after being transferred to an agent.
Whose desk it lands on
The contact center leader. When an AI agent hands a customer off to a live agent, does what the customer has already said show up on that agent's screen?
Our view
The CX Brief's interpretation, not a claim made by the source.
Customers being open to AI isn't enough: the experience can break down at the moment of transfer, with customers explaining their problem all over again once they reach an agent. Unless the handoff to agents is designed together with the bot, the return on the bot investment is lost in that repetition.
Source
Source:Five9
Reported by: CX Today·October 16, 2026
Conflict of interest: The source article was published on CX Today as content sponsored by Five9. The research is Five9's own; Five9 sells customer service software.
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