Human agents’ evolving role with automation

Have you ever contacted customer support with a simple request, only to find yourself trapped in a loop of scripted chatbot responses that never actually solve the problem? It's an experience many of us know all too well.

AI has made customer service more conversational over the last few years, yet there is still a gap between answering a question and actually resolving an issue. That gap is exactly where today's conversation begins.

In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I spoke with Mike Szilagyi, SVP and General Manager of Product Management at Genesys Cloud, about a new chapter in AI-powered customer experience. Genesys has announced what it describes as the industry's first agentic virtual agent built on Large Action Models, or LAMs. While Large Language Models have dominated the conversation around AI for the past few years, they have largely focused on generating responses, retrieving knowledge, or answering questions. What they have struggled with is execution.

Mike explained how Large Action Models take the next step. Rather than simply telling a customer how to solve a problem, these systems can plan and execute the steps needed to complete a task. Imagine contacting an airline after a sudden flight cancellation.

Instead of navigating multiple menus or repeating information to a human agent, an agentic virtual assistant could understand your situation, check alternative flights, apply airline policies, and complete the rebooking process across several systems. In other words, the AI moves from conversation to action.

We also explored how Genesys approached the design of this technology with enterprise governance in mind. From explainable decision paths and audit logs to guardrails that ensure every automated action can be traced and understood, the goal is to make autonomous AI trustworthy inside complex organizations. Mike also shared insights into Genesys' partnership with Scaled Cognition and how integrating specialized models helps deliver reliable execution in real-world customer service environments.

Perhaps most interesting was our discussion about the human role in this evolving contact center landscape. As automation begins to handle routine and multi-step workflows, human agents are free to focus on situations that require empathy, judgment, and expertise. That shift raises interesting questions about how organizations design customer experiences in the years ahead.

So how will customers respond when virtual agents move beyond answering questions and begin resolving problems on their behalf? And once one brand delivers that experience, will it quickly become the expectation?

Useful Links

• Connect with Mike Szilagyi
• Learn more about Genesys
• Genesys Agentic Virtual Agent Powered by LAMs for Enterprise CX
• Follow on LinkedIn