Zendesk Unveils AI Agents to Automate 80% of Customer Support Tasks

[cryptohog]

Zendesk is launching a new suite of AI-powered support agents designed to handle up to 80% of customer service issues without human intervention. The platform includes a co-pilot agent to assist human technicians, as well as admin, voice-based, and analytics agents.

Shashi Upadhyay, Zendesk’s President of Product, Engineering, and AI, told TechCrunch, “The world’s going to shift from software built for humans to systems where AI does most of the work.” Benchmarks suggest that modern AI models, like Claude Sonnet 4.5, can already resolve 85% of tool-calling support scenarios, making this rollout timely.

Zendesk’s AI system builds on recent acquisitions, including Hyperarc, Klaus, and Ultimate, which enhance analytics, QA, and automation capabilities. Early previews with customers indicate significant satisfaction improvements, with users reporting a 5–10 point boost.

Supporting nearly 20,000 customers and 4.6 billion annual tickets, Zendesk’s AI push could transform the customer support industry, which employs 2.4 million service representatives in the U.S. alone.

[kelson10]

This is massive. Automating 80% of support tasks could save companies millions while giving agents more time for complex issues.

[Nahid10]

AI in customer service is evolving fast. If Zendesk pulls this off smoothly, it’ll reshape how businesses handle client communication forever.

[EmTeam]

Supporting nearly 20,000 customers and 4.6 billion annual tickets.