Based on insights from more than 600 U.S. consumers, the 2026 CX Trends Report exposes a widening gap between AI promises and customer reality. While organizations invested heavily in automation in 2025, customers reported more loops, dead ends, repeat explanations, and declining trust.

Six months later, we went back to consumers and the shift is pronounced. The AI support honeymoon is fading. Frustration is hardening into expectation, and what customers want from support has fundamentally changed.

Download the full report and dive in to the Spring 2026 Trend Shift amendment, including:

• Consumers saying AI has "made things harder" jumped 8 points in 6 months now at 42.2%, signaling that frustration is no longer a minority opinion
• Demand for "feeling understood" surged 6 points while the importance of speed dropped from 14.5% to 10.2%; empathy has officially overtaken speed as the defining measure of a good support experience
• The share of consumers unwilling to stay with a brand that eliminates human support grew 3.5 points and now represents more than half of all customers, making AI-only support a measurable churn risk
• The "always self-serve first" mindset dropped 5 points to 38.8%, reflecting a growing loss of confidence in automated resolution
• 78% of customers say they have received a fast response that still left them frustrated, up 3 points from October, proving that speed without resolution is no longer enough