The rise of agentic AI is set to turn customer experience strategy on its head; brands will no longer be judged on how well they rank in search, how strong their marketing is or even “brand promise”, with the technology likely to weigh up a raft of key operational factors before making a decision on a customer’s behalf.
That is according to the CX Horizons: The State of CX in 2026 report, based on in-depth interviews with over 340 global practitioners, which puts the rise of agentic AI agents that can negotiate, rebook, and purchase on behalf of customers as one of the discipline’s key drivers and rapidly changing how brands interact with customers.
The report coincides with Tesco launching a trial of a new AI shopping assistant, built into the Tesco app, as part of its long-term plan to use AI to help make life a little easier for customers. Meanwhile, M&S recently accelerated its digital transformation by handing out thousands of generative AI and agentic AI tools to store managers and support centre staff.
However, this rapid digital shift brings substantial risks. The report warns of a widening “perception gap”: brands believe their CX is improving thanks to new AI tools, but consumers feel experiences have stalled or deteriorated.
Shaped by new technologies, new customer behaviour, and age-old challenges, CX has changed drastically since the start of this decade. However, the last 12 months have seen external forces – from big tech to regional regulators – start to reshape what CX means and what it is capable of, accelerating change and forcing new ways of working.
But it is agentic commerce that is fundamentally shifting the balance of power between consumers and brands, and that is placing new responsibility on CX leaders to ensure their organisations are agile enough to seize on new opportunities while being resilient enough to survive change.
The report stresses that discoverability will no longer be rooted in traditional advertising, marketing, and SEO, but generative engine optimisation (GEO) and answer engine optimisation (AEO).
CX Network Advisory Board member Joshua Curtis said that as customers start using tools like ChatGPT or agentic commerce platforms to research, compare, or even transact, those tools are not just looking at brand or price.
He explained: “They’re picking up on things like delivery reliability, how easy returns are, customer sentiment, and how often customers need to contact you to fix something. In effect, AI starts judging brands on operational reality, not just brand promise. That’s a big shift.
“If delivery timeframes aren’t reliable, policies are hard to interpret, or customers regularly need help to resolve issues, AI will learn that quickly and steer customers elsewhere.”
Curtis concluded: “From a CX point of view, it really lifts the importance of getting the basics right at scale. Clean data, clear policies, and consistent experiences across channels stop being hygiene factors and start becoming growth drivers.”
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