What AI Needs Is Informed, Confident Decision-Making

In this article, Martin Hill-Wilson of Brainfood Consulting shares his thoughts on the journey we’ve all been on with AI so far and why future success will be driven by informed, confident decision-making.

It’s an Urban Myth That AI Only Started Around 2022 With OpenAI

The earliest mention of AI on Call Centre Helper is dated August 1st, 2019. The article is titled “The 10 Things They Won’t Tell You About Artificial Intelligence”. This is according to Perplexity’s ‘deep research’ mode which I used to profile the rising interest in AI on callcentrehelper.com.

I’m sure some can track mentions back to even earlier times. Anyone with foundation understanding knows it’s an urban myth that AI only started around 2022 with OpenAI.

Of course, that’s when it went viral, but AI has powered contact centres from back in the day when we talked about ACDs, CTI etc.

So rather than being an ‘out of the blue’ event, today’s AI is better understood as an unbroken evolution of ‘then till now’.

If you are looking for advice on how you can deploy AI successfully, read our article: All Aboard! Get Your AI Journey Off to the Best Start

Without the Heritage of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Natural Language Processing, There Would Be No Generative AI or Agentic AI Today

Certainly, algorithms were less complex, as were the use cases. But without the heritage of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Natural Language Processing, there would be no Generative AI or Agentic AI today.

Like the colour spectrum of a rainbow, it’s just a social construct where we choose to see boundaries between colours.

We can understand the generations of AI in a similar way. Perplexity’s Deep Research is not just a large language model (LLM). Nor is it entirely a product of agentic AI. It uses what’s called a ‘layered’ architecture that enables capabilities beyond standard LLM operation.

As such, it’s an evolutionary milestone somewhere between two generations. Like ‘Orange’ sits between ‘Red’ and ‘Yellow’ in a rainbow.

In this sense we could summarize AI’s evolution over the course of 2025 as moving from the ‘ability to generate’ into the ‘ability to act’.

For information on how industry pioneers are embracing the latest AI capabilities to improve the EX and CX, read our article: The AI Revolution – How Contact Centres Are Adapting

We Overestimate the Short-Term Benefits While Underestimating the Longer-Term Impact

It’s organic evolution, although vendor desire to be first means fuzzy boundaries and hyped capability. But, as the saying goes, we overestimate the short-term benefits while underestimating the longer-term impact, until disruption to existing operational models comes into full view and the transformation become obvious to everyone.

I witnessed this first-hand while chairing industry conferences as the Generative AI wave first struck. No one quite had the vocabulary or perspective on what this new thing was.

But it was exciting and generated awe. Something the whole industry, from foundation model makers to specialized contact centre software brands, have worked hard to keep us focused on ever since.

But it’s much more than just the tech.

Outside the scope of interest vendors have pegged out are the slower moving and deeper implications that an AI-first organization model provokes.

On the same day as writing this, I read a LinkedIn post about the issue of declining employee motivation. One contributor blamed unaffordable UK house prices and employees being told AI will replace them in the next five years.

Organizations Have Failed Miserably to Develop Their Own Narrative About the Impact of AI on Job Enrichment

In reply, I argued that:

Every organization, by which I’m really referring to the people in them, has the agency to determine how AI impacts them. And one of the most informed forecasts right now paints a brighter future than some imagine.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects significant workforce transformations driven by AI and related technologies.

By 2030, AI is expected to create 170 million new jobs globally while displacing 92 million existing roles, resulting in a net employment increase of 78 million. Please note all this is due to happen within the next five years!

Contact Centres Are One of the Hottest Use Cases in This Current Wave of AI

Since contact centres are one of the hottest use cases in this current wave of AI, shouldn’t we therefore assume similar levels of disruption and reinvention?

If there is one thing I’ve have learnt over a multi-threaded career, it’s that winners are those organizations that best execute with clarity.

This comes from aligned effort based on realistic assessment of challenges and opportunities. Powered by confident and capable people sustained by a culture that tolerates mistakes and cheers success.

So, here’s my contribution to enabling more winners.

Having a shared vocabulary and mindset is ground zero for how organizations can support their teams to imagine, design and build an AI-first organization. Everyone needs to feel ready to do this. Especially colleagues still ‘stuck in neutral’.

So how can we help them over that bump? Increase their confidence by giving them enough understanding to find their voice and join in.

If you are looking for information and expert insights on how contact centre leaders are feeling about artificial intelligence, read our article: Contact Centre AI – The Truth Revealed

This Next Phase Is All About Us and Our Own Readiness to Act

The tech will take care of itself. It always does. This next phase is all about us and our own readiness to act. Effective change programmes always start with orientation. The better this is, the further and faster the team goes.

To feel activated, people need to know how something works, the challenges involved and a vision of where it takes them to next. That’s how we modelled the AI For Non-Technical Minds agenda. Check it out for yourself.

No doubt Call Centre Helper will continue to be a place we check into as it reports on progress. Which jobs are being retired, and which are being born over the next five years? What skills are needed? Are leaders and influencers articulating a better version of the future than the TechBros? Are people warming to this new reality or fearing it?

Brainfood Training aims to be a companion for the duration. Demystifying the tech, pointing out the new operational challenges, and painting North Stars of how it can be when properly executed.

Written by: Martin Hill-Wilson of Brainfood Consulting

For more information on AI in the contact centre, read these articles next:

• How Customer Attitudes to AI in Customer Service Are Changing
• Can AI Really Handle Customer Complaints?
• Hang On a Minute… Is AI Worsening EX?

Author: Martin Hill-Wilson
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman