Zendesk CTO Adrian McDermott explains that high-value customers disproportionately interact with customer support representatives.
Opinion
McDermott: AI can automate 80-100% of text support, but voice is unready
“If it's an easy landscape and we can cover the API estate with what we have, you could really get to 80 or a hundred percent depending on where you want to go. So as of today, it's all there. I think voice isn't quite there, and that's it.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
McDermott: Production-ready mass-market voice AI is roughly a year away
“Well, I think it's almost, it's basically ready now, so we're only kind of a yearish away, but I think to get it mass market, mass scale, and always get the latency and reliability that we want, probably still, probably, you know, that's coming online in the n…”
Insight
McDermott: Automating Support Drives Increased Human Escalations
“One of the things that we say is automation drives escalation. You know, as I automate something, more and more people, the Alex's of the world are pressing zero and asking to talk to the operator. And that isn't coming away.”
Insight
McDermott: Lack of backend APIs is the primary blocker for AI agents taking action
“I think if you don't have an API on that system, we can't swivel chair yet. With an AI agent effectively or, you know, reliably. And, you know, we can vibe code and build the integration for them, but the API has to be there. And so mostly the blocker, like wh…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
McDermott: Coding models will drive support automation more than computer-use agents
“I actually think what's really going to make a difference more likely than computer use models, computer using models is just the improvements in coding models. And that's a little bit basing the future on the immediate past. Coding models have gotten gotten s…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
McDermott: True AI Memory May Require Tech Beyond Current LLMs
“We might not get there with the exact technology that we're using for large language models at the moment, but it feels like some way that we want to get to with sort of frontier level at AI.”