Seven in 10 consumers across Asia Pacific have walked away from an AI customer service chat because the system failed to recall basic details about them or their earlier interactions. According to Twilio’s 2026 Customer Insights Series, such lapses carry severe commercial stakes, with 5% of respondents abandoning a brand altogether after an unsatisfactory exchange.
This friction stems from a wide perception gap between regional enterprises and their audience. An overwhelming 84% of businesses believe their AI agents effectively recognise returning customers and retain conversational history, yet 70% of consumers state that they regularly have to start over from the beginning when opening a fresh query. Such a disparity underlines how corporate confidence in automated channels frequently diverges from actual customer experience.
Customer history is getting lost between systems
Moving from an AI agent to a human representative does not necessarily preserve what has already been discussed. Twilio found that 65% of consumers have had to repeat information or fill in missing details after an AI bot transferred them to a person.
Twilio attributes the problem to customer histories being spread across disconnected systems. This fragmentation leaves both AI and human agents without the information needed to continue an earlier conversation. “AI is only as helpful as the context you feed it. By connecting customer data, brands can evolve from basic chatbots to smart assistants that remember every individual. Having consumers repeat their issues will become a thing of the past as customers have continuous conversations that pick up right where they left off,” said Robert Woolfrey, Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan, at Twilio.
Consumers want clearer disclosure and control
Customers also want greater transparency and control whenever automated tools are involved. Some 70% of Asia Pacific consumers believe AI agents should identify themselves at the beginning of every conversation, compared with only 22% of businesses that currently do so. Access to human oversight is an equally prominent concern, as 58% of consumers want the option to switch to a person on request, 57% want AI actions to require human approval, and 51% want to know what customer information an AI system can access.
Businesses surveyed by Twilio are responding in several areas to meet these demands. Some 47% are prioritising features that make AI decisions easier to explain, 44% are making it easier for customers to reach a human agent, and 39% are giving customers more control over whether their data is used to train AI models.
Dr Gemma Calvert, Professor of Consumer Neuroscience, linked poor AI experiences directly to customers’ perceptions of a brand. “Trust depends heavily on expectations. One lesson from the early chatbot era is that when AI is deployed before it can cope with the range and complexity of real customer needs, consumers do not simply blame the technology; that failure becomes part of their experience of the brand itself. Brands therefore need to be clear about what AI can and cannot do, disclose when it is being used, and provide an easy route to a human before frustration escalates,” she said.
Businesses expect AI to handle more customer service
Concerns over lost context and transparency have not prevented consumers from becoming more comfortable with AI across the region. Some 68% of Asia Pacific respondents said the AI bots they interacted with had improved over the past year, while 65% want AI agents from different companies to communicate directly when doing so could resolve an issue more quickly. Many respondents were also comfortable assigning routine tasks to AI, with the survey finding that 86% would use it to schedule appointments, 85% for making dinner reservations, 85% for processing returns and 82% for choosing concert seats.
Commercial reliance on automated service is poised to expand considerably over the coming years. Asia Pacific business leaders expect AI agents to handle 65% of customer service interactions by 2027, up from 52% today. Twilio also found that 91% of organisations are already building AI workflows designed to provide proactive support before a customer ever contacts the business.
Twilio surveyed 7,652 consumers and 660 business leaders across 18 global markets between 9 April and 1 May 2026. Within Asia Pacific, the study covered Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.
