AI should empowerpeople, not replace us.

Hey Z-Admin, Zendesk Relate is over, and if you missed it, here’s a quick summary of the most relevant announcement 👇

The main topic was something Zendesk is calling the Autonomous Service Workforce. What does that mean? In simple terms, Zendesk is moving from traditional bots that only deflect tickets to AI agents that can work across channels, understand context, and take action.

✅ Agent Builder: A no-code interface to create, test, and optimize your own AI agents, adapted to your policies, workflows, data, and business logic.

✅ Omnichannel AI Agents: AI agents will be able to operate across messaging, email, voice, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other environments while keeping context across channels.

✅ Copilots for different roles: Not only for agents. Zendesk is also expanding Admin Copilot, Knowledge Copilot, and Analyst Copilot to help detect issues, improve workflows, find knowledge gaps, and analyze trends.

✅ Action Flows + MCP + connectors: Zendesk wants AI to do more than answer questions. The goal is for AI agents to execute actions across your external systems.

✅ Resolution-based pricing: Zendesk is moving toward a model where customers pay for verified resolutions, not just usage or volume.

What do you think?

61 percent of your users will leave for a competitor after exactly one bad experince.

I was biting my tongue today during a hallway conversation so I would not scream this number out loud. A colleague asked why we even need human Customer Support anymore. "Why not just automate everything with AI and close the tickets?"

I love tech people. I really do. But sometimes they think human frustration can be resolved with a version update.

Do not get me wrong, AI is a fantastic sidekick. I use it to answer simple tickets. To summarize past chats, analyze sentiment, and pull up user history. But AI has absolutely zero judgment.

Take a classic edge case. A user buys a time-based package, but real life happens and they cannot use it. The database shows the purchase was delivered successfully. If an AI handles this, it looks at the policy, sees a successful delivery, and politely tells the user to go away.

A human looks at the exact same ticket, realizes we want this person to actually like our brand, bends the rules, and restores the package.

Trap a frustrated user with a bot that makes a mistake, give them no way to reach a real human, and trust is instantly broken. People just want to know there is an actual person behind the system.

Use AI to read the data. Use humans to read the room.

Sourcing doesn’t need to feel like 100 tabs and 0 time.

Lately I’ve been loving how Copilot supports practical sourcing efficiency — from building better outreach drafts to sharpening the way we personalise InMails.
And internally, we’re also seeing momentum on agent-led enablement — including recruiting-focused agent ideas and onboarding support , I can see very clearly where my candidates at at their onboarding journey.
What this unlocks for recruiters:
✨ faster first drafts (with consistency)
✨ more time to add the human layer: motivation, nuance, and authentic connection
✨ better focus on stakeholder partnership — not admin drag
AI is becoming part of the rhythm of how we work — not something extra we “make time for.”

#Copilot #Sourcing #TalentAcquisition #Recruitment #AIatWork #LinkedInRecruiter #HRTech #Microsoft

AI is part of my process. But, so is actually caring about people.

Those two things have never been in conflict for me.

I use AI to move faster on the administrative stuff — so I can slow down when it matters. The screening questions. The follow-up. The conversation where someone tells me what they actually want from their next move.

That part doesn’t get automated. Ever.

I think the fear around AI in recruiting is real — but it’s not about the tool. It’s about what some people are choosing to do with it.

Use it to disappear? Candidates feel that.

Use it to show up better? They feel that too.

My job has always been to connect the right person to the right opportunity. AI just helps me do more of that — without losing sight of the human being on the other side of the process.

That part’s non-negotiable for me.

#Recruiting #TalentAcquisition #CandidateExperience #AIinHR #HumanFirst #hiring

Washington, DC — May 24, 2026 — HiredAI today announced the general availability of Cortex, an automation layer built into its recruiting platform that handles two of the most time-consuming functions in modern hiring — inbound applicant triage and outbound candidate sourcing — without requiring recruiters to babysit either one.

Cortex is now live for all HiredAI customers at app.hiredaiapp.com/cortex, with no separate purchase required.