Once Bitten, Twice Shy: How to Cure the AI Hype Hangover

For many contact centre and CX leaders, the promise of AI has sometimes felt more like a cautionary tale. Grand visions of seamless, automated customer interactions have often crumbled under the weight of clunky implementations, unfulfilled promises, and inflexible solutions.

The result? Cynicism and hesitation to reinvest in AI technologies.

And this is a problem for people like me (the writer of this article), because it’s kind-of my job to advocate for these technologies! And no, it’s not just because I want to sell them to you. We’re pretty much at the same place as we were in 2025/2016 with VoIP (which I also sell). It’d been around for a good while by that point, but early solutions (I’m looking at you, Skype) were so incredibly poor that many IT professionals were sporting the battle scars. They say nobody gets fired for procuring Salesforce, but I suspect some might have been for procuring Skype!

Anyway...

This article explores why AI has fallen short in the past, the reasons behind the scepticism in the contact centre industry and how technologies like Zoom Virtual Agent and Zoom Contact Centre are spearheading the second wave of AI - a wave defined by trust, usability, and proven outcomes.

AI gone wrong: Cautionary tales in CX

• Microsoft’s Tay Chatbot (2016): The PR nightmare

Microsoft’s AI chatbot, Tay, was designed to learn from interactions on Twitter. However, within 24 hours, it was manipulated into generating offensive and inflammatory tweets, leading to its swift shutdown. Lesson Learned: AI needs guardrails, context awareness, and ongoing supervision to prevent misuse.

• United Airlines’ Chatbot Mishaps (2018): Missed the mark

United Airlines introduced a chatbot to handle basic inquiries, but customers quickly grew frustrated with its inability to understand nuanced questions or escalate to a human agent. Negative press followed, highlighting the bot's lack of flexibility and contextual understanding. Lesson Learned: Bots that can’t escalate effectively or adapt to complex queries frustrate customers instead of helping them.

• Wendy’s Mobile Order AI (2019): Error strewn

Wendy’s attempted to implement AI for mobile ordering, but customers reported frequent errors, such as misinterpreted orders and unresponsive interfaces. This led to a decline in user adoption and damaged the customer experience. Lesson Learned: Poorly trained AI fails to meet real-world customer needs, eroding trust and usability.

• Tesco's Online Shopping Assistant (2020): Got a bit confused!

Tesco launched an AI-driven online shopping assistant intended to help customers find products and manage their orders. Users reported that the assistant often failed to recognise product names, provided inaccurate stock information, and occasionally added incorrect items to the cart. Lesson Learned: High quality data and integration is crucial, whilst human oversight is non-negotiable.

• Telco IVR Hell (Ongoing Issue): Endless loops

Many telecom providers implemented early AI-driven IVRs that trapped customers in endless loops of "Tell me what you're calling about" without understanding the query or offering clear paths to a human agent. Lesson Learned: Over-automated systems that prioritise cost-cutting over customer needs drive dissatisfaction.

Why contact centre leaders remain wary

Many contact centre leaders have experienced first-hand the pitfalls of poorly executed AI solutions. Common issues include:

• Difficult implementation and maintenance: Early AI solutions required extensive effort to build, train, and maintain, often overwhelming internal teams.

• Rigid, inflexible systems: Once deployed, many AI systems lacked the agility to evolve with changing customer needs, leaving them stagnant and outdated.

• Unrealistic promises: Vendors overpromised transformative results without accounting for practical limitations, leading to disappointment and financial losses.

• Negative customer impact: Frustrating customer interactions lead to higher churn rates and damaged brand reputation.

These experiences have left many feeling that AI is more trouble than it’s worth - until now.

(with credit to Gartner for the concept).

The second wave of AI: Why Zoom Virtual Agent and Zoom Contact Centre are different

Zoom is leading the charge in redefining AI for customer experience with solutions that prioritise user-centricity, trust, usability, and measurable outcomes. Here’s why Zoom Virtual Agent and Zoom Contact Centre represent the second wave of AI for CX:

1. Easy to build, train, and manage

   • Zoom Virtual Agent is designed to be user-friendly, requiring limited technical expertise to iterate and update. Its intuitive interface allows businesses to quickly tailor the AI to their needs without heavy IT involvement.

   • Continuous learning capabilities ensure the AI evolves with your business, eliminating the stagnation of first-wave bots.

2. Human-centric design

   • Zoom’s AI focuses on augmenting human agents, not replacing them. By handling repetitive tasks, Zoom Virtual Agent empowers agents to focus on high-value, complex customer interactions.

   • Seamless escalation from AI to human agents within Zoom Contact Centre ensures customers never feel trapped or abandoned.

3. Proven ROI and measurable value

   • Unlike legacy solutions, Zoom Virtual Agent delivers fast results, reducing costs through improved self-service rates while enhancing customer satisfaction.

   • Businesses using Zoom’s AI solutions have seen up to 40% faster resolution times and improved CSAT scores.

4. Built for today’s customer needs

   • Zoom Virtual Agent uses cutting-edge Natural Language Processing and conversational AI to understand and respond to customer queries more accurately than ever before.

   • Multichannel support ensures customers get a consistent experience, whether through chat, email, or voice.

5. Trustworthy and transparent

   • Ethical AI is at the core of Zoom’s philosophy. Customers can trust Zoom’s solutions to be transparent, secure, and designed with fairness in mind.

Rebuilding trust in AI

The mistakes of the past have left many wary of AI, but the second wave of trusted, customer-focused solutions is here. Zoom Virtual Agent and Zoom Contact Centre aren’t just about delivering the hype - they’re about delivering results. With tools that are easy to use, adaptable, and designed to work in harmony with human agents, Zoom is proving that AI can transform customer experience without compromising trust or usability.

It’s time to move beyond the hype and embrace AI that works for your business and your customers - because the second wave of AI is here, and it’s better than ever.