Ada set out to reframe the conversation around AI in customer service. The data made their case impossible to argue with.

In an industry that blamed consumer skepticism for slow AI adoption, Ada saw a performance problem instead and needed independent, verified data to prove it. NewtonX built the research that made that gap visible.

A thesis that needed proof

Ada’s platform powers more than 550 AI agents at enterprises worldwide. With more than 6.4 billion customer interactions since 2016, Ada had a close view of how agentic CX was evolving, and where it was breaking down.

The dominant industry narrative blamed consumer skepticism. Enterprises kept investing, kept reporting adoption metrics, kept optimizing for efficiency.

Ada read the pattern differently. Consumers weren’t rejecting AI, they were rejecting AI that failed to resolve their issues. Most businesses had built measurement systems that made that failure invisible to themselves.

Establishing that required data Ada couldn’t produce from their own platform. Any finding that originated with Ada would read as vendor data, especially to the CX leaders this research needed to influence. To land credibly, the evidence had to come from an independent research partner.

Finding two audiences to measure one gap

NewtonX recruited and surveyed 2,000 consumers and 500 enterprise CX and AI decision-makers across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, fielded from December 2025 through February 2026.

On the consumer side, the study captured differences across generations and regions. On the enterprise side, it focused on decision-makers with direct authority over customer service technology investments.

The dual-sided design mattered structurally. A single-audience study can describe a problem. But only a study covering both sides can quantify how far apart the two parties actually are.

Most AI agents aren’t resolving issues. But most businesses don’t see it.

The headline numbers from the research were published at launch and circulated widely. Fifty-nine percent of consumers prefer always-on AI over waiting for a human—but only when AI can actually resolve their issue. Only 24% reported full resolution without human intervention in their most recent AI service interaction. And 55% of businesses have no real visibility into whether their AI is performing because they measure AI and human agent interactions together.

Those three numbers tell the surface story. The deeper findings, available in the full report, show why the gap exists and what it takes to close it.

One contrast sharpened everything: Consumers ranked accuracy and problem-solving ability nearly three times higher than empathy. The industry had spent years building AI that felt more human. But consumers want AI that works.

Consumers have a hierarchy of needs in customer service. Solve my problem first. Everything else—the tone, the warmth, the personalization—is the frosting. The industry got seduced by the frosting. What surprised us in the research wasn’t that the gap existed, it was how few businesses could even see it. 55% are measuring AI and human performance together. You can’t fix what you can’t measure.
— Dani Wanderer, CMO, Ada

A benchmark becomes a blueprint

Ada didn’t just launch a report. It launched a market framework. The release of Agentic CX in 2026: What consumers expect and most enterprises miss gave Ada a credible, independent benchmark for explaining where enterprise AI customer service is actually breaking down and what maturity looks like from there. It became the foundation for the Ada ACX Blueprint: a staged maturity model showing what agentic CX looks like at each level and what it takes to move forward across platform, practice, and expertise.

For Ada’s customers and prospects, the sourcing changed how the framework landed. A maturity model built on 2,500 verified independent respondents lands differently than one a vendor publishes about their own product. Enterprise CX leaders could locate themselves in the framework and use it to build the internal case for what comes next.

Ada turned the research into a broader launch campaign, extending the report with a CMSWire webinar and a short launch video that helped carry the ACX Blueprint into the market in a more visible, shareable way.

The Agile Brand Guide covered the research at launch, framing it as a foundation for how enterprises should think about ACX maturity heading into the rest of 2026. Together, they helped position the Ada ACX Blueprint not just as a framework in a report, but as a clear way for enterprises to understand where they stand and what comes next.

The most successful companies partner with NewtonX to conduct custom, high-value research and secure their status as industry leaders. Reach out today to discuss how we can help you build your signature study and define your category with definitive proof points.