30% of Galaxy S25 owners are ignoring AI features, and here's what that really means
PLUS: Simple prompts to understand why customers avoid AI and how to fix it
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🗓️ August 12, 2025 ⏱️ Read Time: ~5 minutes
👋 Welcome
Here's something your team meetings aren't talking about: we're building AI tools that customers don't want to use. While your product teams show off cool new features and marketing celebrates big launches, real people are quietly clicking "skip" on the very tools you're betting everything on.
📡 Signal in the Noise
This problem is everywhere now. Expensive phone buyers ignore AI. Streaming customers stick with basic suggestions. Even Tesla owners skip the smart features they paid thousands for. We're not facing an adoption problem. We're facing a usefulness problem.
🧠 Executive Lens
Want to know the real secret to AI success? Stop building AI that feels like AI. The best customer experiences happen when the smart technology becomes invisible. When it just works without customers having to think about it. The 30% who ignore Galaxy AI aren't against technology. They're against things that make their life harder.
📰 Stories That Matter
🤔 A third of Galaxy S25 owners completely ignore AI features, and it's not what you think
Samsung just admitted something no tech company wants to say: 30% of their best customers aren't using the AI features they paid extra for. But here's the surprising part. Circle to Search is still the most popular AI tool because it doesn't feel like AI at all. People want smart technology that fits into what they already do, not features that make them learn new things.
Here's what's really happening. Photo Assist usage went up by double from the old phone. Now Brief is popular with one in three users. What's the difference? These tools solve real problems instead of just showing off what the technology can do. Samsung is accidentally running the world's biggest test on AI design. And the results should worry every customer experience leader who cares more about features than feelings.
Why This Matters: Your customers aren't saying no to AI. They're saying no to having to work harder to use it. This difference will decide which companies win in the next few years.
Try This: Look at your customer journey and find the three biggest frustration points. Then ask: "How could AI fix this problem without the customer knowing AI is helping?"
Source: Sammy Fans
🎯 1.8 billion people use AI, but 80% of the value is going to waste
Menlo Ventures just shared research that should change every AI strategy: while 61% of Americans have used AI in six months, special AI tools only get 18-20% of what people spend. Here's the surprising finding that changes everything. People don't want AI to replace their creativity. They want it to make their creativity better.
The pattern is clear: users love AI that makes them feel more human, not less. Think about Canva's AI design tools (44% market share) versus confusing AI productivity apps. The winners aren't the smartest programs. They're the ones that help people do what they already love. This isn't about having the best technology. It's about making people feel good.
Why This Matters: The AI companies that survive will understand people better than computers. Because getting people to use something is really about making them feel powerful, not amazed.
Try This: Before launching any AI feature, ask your team: "Does this make customers feel smarter or does it make them feel replaced?" The answer tells you everything.
Source: Menlo Ventures
📱 Apple Intelligence gets more powerful but faces a big hardware problem
Apple's latest AI update shows a dirty secret of the AI revolution: old devices can't handle new AI. Cool new features like Workout Buddy create personal fitness tips using real trainer voices. Developers can now use Apple's AI in their apps. But here's the problem that will matter for the next three years. These experiences only work on expensive new phones and computers.
We're creating two levels of customer service where your device decides how good your experience is. Apple is trying to protect privacy and make things work fast. But they're accidentally creating digital inequality. The customers who need AI help the most (people with older phones, less money, or less tech skills) can't get the benefits.
Why This Matters: Fair AI isn't just the right thing to do. It's good business. Companies that design for regular people often win over everyone else too.
Try This: Design every AI customer experience to work on a three-year-old phone with slow internet. Limits force better solutions than unlimited resources.
Source: Apple Newsroom
📊 95% of customer service will be AI by 2025, but trust is falling fast
New Zendesk research just broke the "AI is unstoppable" story with this problem: while 95% of customer service will be AI-handled by 2025, 63% of customers worry about unfair AI decisions. The trust crisis is real. 74% of customer experience leaders say AI honesty is critical. Yet nearly 3 in 4 CEOs admit they're worried about how honest their own AI systems are.
Here's what's keeping customer service professionals awake at night: 51% of customers want bots for quick help. But 68% expect those bots to be as good as skilled human workers. We're automating faster than we're building trust. This creates a customer experience debt that gets worse every day. Companies rushing to "make everything AI" might be setting themselves up for a massive trust problem.
Why This Matters: Speed without honesty is just expensive customer frustration. The brands that solve for trust will own the next ten years of customer relationships.
Try This: Create "AI honesty reports" for your best customers. Show exactly how automated decisions affect their experience. Being open builds stronger relationships than being perfect.
Source: Zendesk
🚗 Tesla uses AI agents to fix what humans messed up, and it's working
Tesla just admitted something every customer experience leader knows but won't say: sometimes the best AI doesn't replace people. It fixes the broken processes people created. Their new AI system watches for slow service responses, tracks customer mood, and automatically sends angry customers to managers. In two weeks, customers can type "Escalate" to skip the red tape entirely.
This isn't about AI being smarter than people. It's about AI being more consistent than people. Tesla's service problems weren't caused by workers not knowing enough. They were caused by inconsistent processes, forgotten follow-ups, and communication gaps. The AI doesn't fix cars. It fixes broken customer journeys in real-time.
Why This Matters: The most valuable AI in customer experience isn't the flashy stuff customers see. It's the invisible intelligence that stops problems before they become complaints.
Try This: Before building AI to handle customer problems, use AI to find out why those problems happen in the first place. Preventing problems beats solving them every time.
Source: Tesla Oracle
✍️ Prompt of the Day
Understanding Why Smart Customers Ignore Smart Features
You're an expert in understanding why people use or avoid technology. I just learned that 30% of our best customers completely ignore the AI features they paid extra for.
Help me understand what's really happening:
1. What hidden reasons make smart people avoid helpful technology?
2. How do customers decide in seconds whether to try new features?
3. What's the difference between features customers will "try once" versus features they'll use every day?
4. Create a gentle plan that respects customer doubt while showing real value
Focus on feelings, not technical stuff. I need to understand the human side of this resistance so we can design better experiences, not just better technology.
Include specific examples of AI features that worked because they felt natural versus ones that failed because they felt forced.
What this finds: The emotional and mental barriers that stop people from using features, even when the technology works great
How to use it: Creates user-friendly rollout plans that work with customer psychology instead of against it
Where to test: Perfect for understanding any gap between what features can do and what customers actually use
🛠️ Try This Prompt
You're a customer experience detective looking into AI adoption patterns.
I'm going to share some customer feedback about our AI features. For each piece of feedback, help me decode what's really being said:
[PASTE YOUR ACTUAL CUSTOMER COMMENTS HERE]
For each comment, tell me:
1. Is this customer an "AI Lover" (loves the idea), "AI User" (uses what works), or "AI Avoider" (actively avoids it)?
2. What's the real emotional driver: Fear of complicated stuff? Don't trust it? Bad past experiences? No time?
3. What would need to change for this specific customer to become a regular user?
4. Turn their surface complaint into actionable product improvements
Then give me three quick tests I could run this week to see if fixing these concerns actually changes behavior. Make them small, measurable, and easy to undo.
Quick use: Turn unclear customer complaints into specific product ideas you can test right away
Real benefit: Shows which improvements will actually get people to use features versus which ones just sound good in meetings
How to use fast: Run this on any customer feedback that mentions AI, automation, or "smart" features
📎 CX Note to Self
"The best AI doesn't announce itself. It just makes everything else work better."
👋 See You Tomorrow
That's it for today. Hit reply and tell me: what AI features are your customers actually using versus the ones you thought they'd love? The gap between what we plan and what people adopt is where the real insights live. 👋
Enjoy this newsletter? Please forward it to a colleague who's dealing with AI adoption.
Have an AI-mazing day!
—Mark
💡 P.S. Want more prompts? Grab the FREE 32 Power Prompts That Will Change Your CX Strategy – Forever to start transforming your team, now.
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