For sales teams, AI is accelerating. For many customers, it’s a ride to someone else’s place.
Braze’s “Global Customer Engagement Review 2026” paints a picture that should give marketing leaders pause. On the other hand, adoption between marketing teams is almost universal. On the other hand, consumers remain skeptical about how brands use AI in their interactions – and why – they use AI.
That gap is not theoretical. It is already shaping the customer experience.
Almost all marketers say they use AI, and most believe it helps them better understand customer needs and wants. AI uncovers insights, predicts trends and enables personalization at scale. Inside, it looks like an improvement.
While 93% of marketers say AI helps them understand customers better, only 53% of consumers believe products accurately predict their wants and needs. That vision gap can’t be solved with better dashboards.
It shows something deeper: brands believe they deliver relevance, but customers don’t always feel it. And that’s important, because perception drives trust.
Your customers are searching everywhere. Make sure it’s your product he appears.
The SEO toolkit you know, and the AI visibility data you need.
Start a Free Trial
Start with
Agents appear as a middle layer
Another change is quietly underway. Consumers are starting to use AI as a mediator between themselves and brands.
Currently, that number is relatively small – only 19% of consumers say they use AI agents to interact with brands. But it is expected to grow faster, increasing 1.4 times this year and possibly reaching 46%. That should reorient the way marketers think about engagement.
If AI agents become the main conduit between customers and brands, then visibility, value and transparency will be more important than ever. You are no longer just optimizing search results or email inbox placement. You customize how the AI assistant interprets, recommends and prioritizes your product.
This is where trust becomes a strategic infrastructure.
Marketers are betting heavily on AI to improve growth and ROI. At the same time, consumers are sending mixed signals about how comfortable they are with AI-led engagement.
More than half of consumers expect brands to use AI in ways that are self-serving rather than improving the customer experience. That belief alone can cloud the performance of the most advanced personalization engine.
In other words, AI-led engagement won’t work without a human touch and clear evidence of value. That could be the tension for the next five years of marketing. The power of AI is growing rapidly. Consumer confidence is not guaranteed to keep pace.
The possible future of AI and engagement
The Braze report outlines four possible outcomes:
- AI agents act as a middle layer between consumers and brands, helping to create personalized experiences tailored to individual needs. That situation requires trust, transparency and consistent value delivery.
- AI continues to advance technologically, but fails to gain public trust. Adoption is slow, impact is muted and growth is below expectations.
- AI innovation platform while consumer experience remains stable. Brands are using existing tools, but people strategy and creativity create the difference.
- And in the most pessimistic scenario, customers completely reject AI-led interactions and marketers quietly push back expectations.
Right now, we are in a high, low trust situation. Without deliberate action, the future may look the same — powerful tools thwarted by reluctant users.
Bridging the gap between action and vision
Successful brands will define AI and demonstrate how it improves customer outcomes, not just internal efficiency.
That means demonstrating tangible consumer benefits, such as faster service adjustments, more relevant recommendations, cleaner experiences across channels and fewer irrelevant messages.
It also means respecting boundaries with clear consent, transparent data use and strong governance.
Many marketers are already seeing tangible benefits from engaging with AI. Productivity has increased. Understanding is deep. The orchestration is brilliant. But the growth curve will slow down unless customers hear that lift.
The full report can be found here. (Registration required)
