Announcing ‘The 2026 AI Sentiment Report’: How end users feel about AI Agents

Summary

The 2026 AI Sentiment Report examines how end users feel about AI Agents in customer service and other uses such as shopping. Overall sentiment improved: 49% reported positive experiences, up nine percentage points from 2025, and that figure rose to 74% after respondents watched an Agent resolve a real query. Trust remains conditional, with 54% willing to trust AI with simple or routine issues but not complex ones involving discretion, privacy, continuity, accountability, or judgment. The research identifies easy escalation to a human and upfront disclosure that users are interacting with AI as the two leading ways to increase comfort, while trust also varies by channel, with chat strongest and social weakest. It concludes that businesses can treat trust as a design problem, including reassuring customers that shopping assistants serve their interests rather than merely the company’s financial goals.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Positive sentiment toward AI rose from 49% in 2025, an increase of nine percentage points, to 74% after respondents watched an Agent resolve a real query.

2. 2

   Fifty-four percent of end users trust AI with simple or routine issues but not complex ones; their concerns include discretion, privacy, conversation continuity, accountability, and human judgment.

3. 3

   Easy escalation to a human and upfront disclosure that the user is interacting with AI were the two most selected ways to increase trust.