One sure way to increase hostility to AI is to use it without telling people. YouTube has been doing just that in a particularly insidious fashion: applying automated “improvements” to creator videos without informing either the creators or their audiences. Of course, YouTube positions the “experiment” as a way to improve user experience.
Consumers don’t necessarily trust AI search results: Invoca reports that 39% think AI is likely to provide misleading information and just 12% rely primarily on AI for product research. In fact, nearly as many are rarely satisfied with AI help (27%) as are usually satisfied (36%). It’s a good thing that AI engines don’t have feelings that can be hurt: respondents’ top suggestion for improving AI experiences was quicker access to a human.
It’s nearly three decades since Salesforce.com disrupted the CRM market by selling software-as-a-service. A new crop of CRM developers hope that AI will give them a similar opportunity (although Salesforce is working hard be the AI CRM leader). Attio just announced a $52 million Series B for its “AI-native CRM”. On the same day, Aurasell released “the first AI-native CRM platform”.
CDP Zeta Global has unveiled Athena, a “superintelligent” voice-activated interface that delivers instant answers, smarter decisions, and agentic actions throughout the Zeta platform. It activates a suite of agentic apps that can adapt to each user’s specific goals and styles. Early access will begin later this year, with a suite of agentic apps to follow in the first half of next year.