Emotionally-aware AI agents are arriving in “starter kit” form
Plus: Subscription support that happens in a text thread
📅 December 23, 2025 | ⏱️ 4-min read
Good Morning!
The Executive Hook:
We’re entering a new phase of AI in customer experience: less “we built a chatbot” and more “we packaged a whole frontline.” The upside is obvious—speed, scale, consistency. The risk is also obvious—when the AI gets something wrong, it doesn’t feel like a bug. It feels like a betrayal. Today’s stories are a reminder that empathy, transparency, and security aren’t “nice-to-haves” anymore. They’re the product.
🧠 THE DEEP DIVE: Concentrix ships pre-built “emotionally aware” AI agents for customer service
The Big Picture: Concentrix launched a suite of pre-built conversational AI agents designed to handle common service needs while adapting to brand voice and customer sentiment.
What’s happening:
Concentrix introduced four “starter kit” agents: Product Support, Order Status, Appointment Scheduling, and Collections.
The agents are positioned as “emotionally aware,” with language about reacting to shifts in tone and responding with empathy (including cultural and language nuance).
They’re built inside Concentrix’s agentic framework and product stack (iX Hello / iX Product Suite), with claims of high standards for secure, trustworthy AI.
Why it matters:
For CX leaders, this is the clearest signal yet that “agentic AI” is being productized into repeatable frontline capabilities—not just custom projects. That raises the bar for you: if vendors can spin up an AI collections agent quickly, your differentiation becomes journey design (handoffs, recovery, exception handling) and experience governance (what it can’t do, when it escalates, what it must confirm).
The takeaway:
If you’re evaluating AI agents, stop asking only “How accurate is it?” and start asking: “How does it behave when the customer is stressed, confused, or angry?” That’s where brand loyalty gets decided.
More: Concentrix Investor Relations
📊 CX BY THE NUMBERS: Kids are becoming AI-native customers faster than adults are becoming AI-literate
Data Source: Axios (Dec 22, 2025)
70% of teens used generative AI last year (Common Sense Media survey, cited by Axios). That’s not a trend—it’s a default behavior.
83% of parents say schools haven’t addressed generative AI use. Translation: expectation is rising, guidance is lagging.
Among teens who use chatbots, ~30% use them daily (Pew survey, cited by Axios). That’s habit-forming frequency.
The Insight:
Your future customers will assume conversational help is instant, personal, and always available. But they’ll also grow up in a world where AI mistakes are normal—and trust is fragile. CX teams should get ahead of this with clear disclosure, safer defaults, and escalation paths that feel human (not punitive).
Source: Axios
🧰 THE AI TOOLBOX: Recharge Concierge SMS
The Tool: Recharge’s Concierge SMS is an AI-powered “subscription concierge” that lets customers manage their subscriptions by simply texting—no portal login, no waiting on an agent.
What it does:
Sends proactive texts ahead of upcoming orders or payment dates so customers can adjust before problems happen.
Handles common requests instantly (skip, change, adjust), and escalates anything unusual to your team with context.
CX Use Case:
Deflect the “routine flood”: order timing, “can I skip?”, “I need to change this,” without forcing customers into a help center maze.
Reduce cancellations in the moment that matters: Recharge cites 86% of cancel requests deflected when the conversation happens right there in SMS.
Trust:
This tool is basically a “frontline in a text thread,” which is powerful—and sensitive. The trust win comes from two things Recharge emphasizes: (1) timing (reach out before the shipment goes wrong), and (2) restraint (escalate the edge cases instead of guessing). That’s how you keep automation from feeling like avoidance. Recharge
⚡ SPEED ROUND: Quick Hits
Instacart ended item-level price testing after customer backlash—promising that two families shopping the same items at the same store location at the same time will see the same prices. That’s CX trust, not “just pricing.” Instacart
HTC is betting on “choose your AI model” smartglasses (Gemini, OpenAI, etc.) and positioning privacy as a differentiator. The interface layer is moving closer to the customer’s face—literally. Reuters
NIST is investing $20M in new AI centers focused on manufacturing productivity and critical infrastructure cybersecurity—important because service reliability often fails upstream (supply chain + infrastructure). NIST
📡 THE SIGNAL: The “relationship layer” is the new battleground
Here’s the shift I want you to notice: companies are no longer competing only on features—they’re competing on behavior.
Does the AI sound like you?
Does it treat people with dignity when they’re having a bad day?
Does it stay safe when the internet tries to trick it?
The brands that earn loyalty in 2026 won’t be the ones with the most AI. They’ll be the ones whose AI builds trust the same way a great employee does—through consistency, restraint, and good judgment.
See you tomorrow.
👥 Share This Issue
If this issue sharpened your thinking about AI in CX, share it with a colleague in customer service, digital operations, or transformation. Alignment builds advantage.
📬 Feedback & Ideas
What’s the biggest AI friction point inside your CX organisation right now? Reply in one sentence — I’ll pull real-world examples into future issues.