Episode Summary

Jason Maynard, CTO of Zendesk, joins Georgie Healy for a conversation that cuts through the AI automation hype and gets to what is actually happening on the front lines of customer service.

Jason shares the framework every business needs right now for deciding where automation genuinely helps customers and where it quietly destroys trust. He introduces the dolphin problem, the counterintuitive reason why the brands that listen hardest to complaints end up winning the most. And he explains why, despite everything you are hearing about AI replacing jobs, customer service job postings in the United States went up 10% in 2025.

They also get into digital snap and how to design your way out of it, why your AI agent is really just an extension of your brand identity, a brand new role emerging inside service organisations that looks a lot like what happened to marketing in the early 2000s, and three rapid fire scenarios that reveal exactly when you need a human and when you do not.

This is one of the most grounded and practical conversations we have had on the show about what AI in customer service actually looks like when it is done well.

✨ Connect with Georgie Healy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginahealy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgina_healy/

Twitter: https://x.com/georgina__healy?lang=en

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