Why AI Will Transform Customer Experience: Cresta CEO Ping Wu and Sequoia’s Doug Leone

Contact centers are shifting from fragmented, legacy-driven operations toward continuous, AI-powered customer journeys. Large language models enable this transformation by moving beyond simple intent classification to orchestrating complex, multi-modal interactions. While the industry debates the speed of full automation, the most durable value accrues at the application layer, where companies integrate real-time data with operational workflows to solve specific, high-friction problems. Rather than focusing solely on labor displacement, the future of customer experience lies in an abundance mindset—using AI to handle low-emotion tasks while enabling new, previously unaffordable interactions. Success in this space requires deep vertical integration, moving beyond mere model access to address the gnarly realities of on-premise infrastructure, data residency, and complex, non-linear human conversations.