Cloud-based customer service platform Zendesk has acquired Local Measure, an AWS partner and provider of AI-powered voice and Contact-Center-as-a-Service solutions. This will bring Zendesk into closer integration with Amazon Connect’s contact center capabilities. It will also enhance Zendesk’s ability to offer customers AI-powered voice engagement.
CDP Optimove has purchased gamification marketing platform Adact and will make its capabilities available throughout Optimove’s “positionless” customer journeys. Adact lets marketers create interactive experiences such as quizzes, mini-games, and lotteries without any coding. It’s Optimove’s fourth acquisition but their first since 2022.
Some shoppers are open to AI agents’ purchase recommendations (38%) and believe the agents speed up the shopping process (31%), but most (66%) don’t want AI making purchases for them even if the deals are better. This shows good sense given research that shows AI trying to fool human evaluators and jailbreak test environments. Of course, businesses will push ahead with AI regardless, suggesting this is a bad time to reduce government oversight.
Preliminary findings by the European Commission state that Apple and Google are in violation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Among the findings, Google Search is accused of prioritizing Google’s own products and services in results; Apple is instructed to improve interoperability between iOS and third-party devices. The companies now have an opportunity to respond.