AI Is the New Interface Between Enterprises and Customers

Play Audio Version

Peter Ryan and I recently featured in a couple of IBA videos focused on predicting the technology trends that will shape 2026. I think that almost all the trends we talked about were enterprise trends, such as agentic AI and cybersecurity.

But there are some important changes taking place in consumer technology that I think will eventually crossover to be more important for the enterprise – because ultimately the people using the tech are customers of companies all across the world.

People talking to their computers is an enormous change in consumer behavior. I know that people have been talking to their computers for a long time now, but it has always been a very limited experience.

Siri was released in 2010 and became better known once Apple bought the software and integrated it into the iPhone 4 in 2011. That’s 15 years of being able to talk to your iPhone, but how often have you really talked to it during those years? The most useful application of this technology has been in-car commands – so you can yell at the phone rather than trying to stop a song playing by grabbing the phone while you are driving.

We have become accustomed to devices like smartphones and the Amazon Echo system responding to very basic commands. Alexa, turn on the kitchen light. Alexa, play Bruce Springsteen. Hey Siri, where is the nearest pharmacy?

These are simple requests and very far from natural conversation. It’s a bit like a Google search. Although Google always encouraged users to search for information using a natural phrase most users defaulted to just typing the most important words. An example might be “history river thames London” rather than just taking “please tell me about the post 19th century history of the river thames in London…”

Now everyone is used to Gen AI on phones and in the home. With ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude you can have an entirely natural conversation. There is no need to strip out redundant words or modify your speech – you just talk and ask questions.

It’s no surprise that many people are now forming relationships with AI-powered devices. Almost a third of American adults have at least one intimate or romantic relationship with an AI. According to research published in 2024 by the Institute for Family Studies in the US, 25% of the adults they asked about AI relationships believe that these bots may replace any need for a genuine human relationship in future.       

I’m not passing judgement on this as something good or bad, but the fact that so many people feel comfortable building a relationship with a bot shows that it is now very easy and natural to talk to them. It is so easy that many people clearly now prefer a conversation with a bot than with a real person – it’s too difficult to handle the complexities of an actual person.

This ease of interacting with AI has many implications for companies across all industries. Can you remember what customer service chatbots used to be like before the Covid pandemic? Clunky and rules-based. You had to ask a question the right way or the bot would not understand.

Now look at how so many companies are taking vast amounts of information and allowing customers to directly use chatbots to ask questions.

Expedia is a good example. The Romie chatbot allows a customer who is thinking about booking a vacation on Expedia to ask any possible questions about a destination. Is it good for children? How many swimming pools does this resort have? Are there any museums in the city near to this hotel?

Expedia has all this data on hotels, airlines, and destinations. The natural language interaction now means that customers can ask any question and receive an immediate answer. They are not restricted to difficult searches through a vast database or hoping that the human adviser they are talking to knows about the specific resort they want to visit.

When Gen AI arrived there was initially a huge amount of fear. The media reaction was that such smart software will immediately start replacing many people in professional jobs, but the reality has been more complex.

Companies are finding that they can use AI tools to boost productivity and now we can see many examples of companies, like Expedia, where customers can directly interact with vast amounts of data using natural language. These interactions were previously impossible.

In fact, the real Gen AI story is how transformative it can be. L’Oreal now offers beauty tips designed specifically for the individual person using their app. Car manufacturers can build cars that automatically help drivers avoid accidents. Doctors can search unstructured historic health records to find insight and patterns that can help to treat current patients.

Speaking naturally to computers was identified by the New York Times as one of their most important trends to watch for in tech in 2026. It’s a good point to focus on because now that consumers are so comfortable interacting with technology this way, it leads to many other business transformations – this ability is a catalyst.

The 1986 movie ‘Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home’ featured a famous scene where the crew of The Enterprise travel back in time from the 23rd century to 1980s San Francisco. They want to explain how to build a water tank strong enough to carry two whales to a 1980s scientist, but they can’t understand why the computer they are using doesn’t respond to their conversation. The exasperated scientist tells them ‘just use the keyboard…’

We have come a long way inside the 2020s. People are now entirely comfortable talking to their computers and even building relationships with them. Enterprise leaders need to think what this means for their business. Does it change the way you interact with your customers or does it create new opportunities for engagement that were previously impossible.

The future is now and AI is making it conversational.

Click here for more information on data management, analytics, and AI services from IBA Group.