HKers tend to abandon AI customer service over poor AI memory

Over 70% of Hong Kong consumers have ditched an AI-powered customer service interaction midway due to poor AI memory, according to a recent report by Twilio.

The survey, titled "2026 Customer Insights Series", interviewed 7,652 global consumers and 660 business leaders across 18 markets, including 352 consumers and 35 business leaders in Hong Kong, between 9 April and 1 May 2026.

While the data shows AI bots save local consumers an average of 84 seconds per interaction, 89% of respondents expressed frustration over a clear trade-off: AI is either fast but lacks contextual understanding, or accurate but too slow to respond. This frustration trends higher than the APAC regional average of 85%.

The survey revealed that 73% of Hong Kong consumers have abandoned an AI interaction midway because the bot lacked basic information about them or their account, outpacing the APAC average of 70%. Among these frustrated users, 4% severed ties with the brand entirely.

Despite this, a severe disconnect exists between brand perception and consumer reality. Nearly nine in 10 local brands believe their AI effectively recognises returning customers and their history, compared to 84% regionally. However, 78% of local consumers report having to start from scratch and repeat information when interacting with an AI agent—a bottleneck often stemming from AI tools operating without unified customer data.

Transitioning from AI to human support fails to resolve the friction. In fact, Hong Kong recorded the highest handoff friction in the region, with 82% of local consumers stating they have to repeat details or fill in information gaps after an AI bot escalates their query to a human agent, dramatically higher than the regional average of 65%.

Building trust in AI

Trust remains another critical area where brands fall short. While AI adoption has accelerated, local consumers are setting strict boundaries. Nearly three-quarters of Hong Kong respondents believe AI agents should explicitly disclose their identity at the start of every interaction, yet only 11% of local businesses currently enforce this practice, lagging well behind the regional average of 22%.

To feel comfortable, consumers are demanding greater control, specifically the ability to easily switch to a human agent upon request, assurance that AI actions require human approval, and visibility into the personal data accessed by the AI.

Encouragingly, local firms are taking steps to bridge the trust deficit. Many are prioritising explainability features, simplifying human opt-out pathways, and giving customers control over whether their data is used to train AI models.

Despite current operational shortcomings, Hong Kong consumers show strong pragmatic readiness for AI delegation. Over half are comfortable allowing AI agents from different companies to communicate directly with each other to resolve issues faster. Local consumers are also eager to delegate routine tasks to AI, outperforming regional averages in areas such as making dinner reservations, at 91% in Hong Kong versus 85% in APAC, and scheduling appointments, at 88% in Hong Kong versus 86% in APAC.

Local enterprises are aggressively positioning themselves for this transition. Hong Kong business leaders expect AI agents to handle 75% of all customer service interactions by 2027, up from 62% today, representing a faster transformation pace than the regional average of 65%.

"Hong Kong businesses are scaling their digital workforces faster than the regional coverage, but they are tripping over the basics. Our research shows a massive 82% failure rate in the human-AI handoff because digital and human agents are operating in data silos," said Billy Chan, director, APAC, at Twilio. "AI is only as helpful as the context you feed it. To stop driving customers away, brands must connect their fragmented data so that every interaction, whether with a bot or a human, picks up exactly where the last one left off."

Chan added, “To overcome AI amnesia, brands must rethink the customer journey and have digital and human agents operate from a single, continuous customer memory. When an AI escalates a query, the entire context must follow instantly so the customer never starts over. Coupled with a commitment to radical transparency, where AI introduces itself upfront and offers a frictionless option to reach a human, businesses can provide a seamless customer experience in an AI-first economy."

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