Gladly Launches Customer AI to Reinvent CX with Empathy and Scale

Customer experience has been actively eroded by systems designed for containment, not connection. In response, Gladly, the CX platform behind brands like Ulta and Crate & Barrel, just launched Customer AI: an AI suite engineered not to deflect tickets, but to understand and grow customer relationships.

This is a swing at the heart of the status quo. Where most customer service platforms treat AI like a patch on broken workflows, Gladly is re-architecting CX from the ground up, positioning AI as the connective tissue between people, channels, and context. In a market where only 3% of companies are deemed “customer-obsessed,” this is less a product update and more of a thesis statement.

Let’s dig into what this launch really means—and why this could reshape enterprise CX strategy.

What’s Inside the New Gladly Stack

Gladly’s new offering isn’t just a smarter chatbot—it’s a full-stack AI rethinking the entire customer lifecycle.

AI Designed for Relationships, Not Tickets

Customer AI aims to restore what ticket-based systems lost: context, continuity, and empathy. Instead of siloed interactions, it brings deep integration into the customer journey, pulling in order history, preferences, past conversations, and behaviors across channels.

The Sidekick Suite Grows Up

Sidekick, Gladly’s AI agent, just got promoted. It now operates across five core areas:

• Sidekick Voice: Think ChatGPT, but for voice calls. Handles full conversations, actions, and handoffs, all with continuity and context.

• Sidekick Sales: Personalized product recommendations and guided discovery, like an AI-powered retail associate.

• Sidekick Email: AI-crafted replies that feel on-brand and fully customer-aware.

• Guides and Journeys: No-code, real-time optimization tools to fine-tune AI behavior and improve over time.

• Sidekick for Zendesk and Salesforce: Extends Customer AI into legacy platforms, bringing modern CX smarts to old-school stacks.

Context-First CX Engine

Unlike legacy systems built around tickets, Gladly’s architecture starts with the customer, not the case. This enables persistent conversation history and a unified customer identity across every interaction.

Rethinking the CX Operating System

Customer AI isn’t just a shiny feature. It’s a wedge into transforming how brands operationalize customer experience.

Operational Efficiency Without Sacrificing Empathy

Cost pressures are real. But where most AI systems try to cut costs by reducing human contact, Gladly bets that empathy and efficiency are not mutually exclusive. It offers real-time assistance and automation without losing the humanity of the brand.

Deep Integration Across the Customer Journey

From pre-sale inquiries to post-sale support, Customer AI aims to drive continuity and cohesion. This is crucial for brands looking to unify their CX stack without swapping out legacy infrastructure entirely—thanks to its integration into Salesforce and Zendesk.

The Bigger Strategic Narrative

Gladly is attempting to resolve a fundamental tension in CX: automation versus personalization. By putting relationships, the company is challenging the dominant logic of “contain and deflect.”

This is about replacing a decades-old mental model that treats customers as transactions and reps as resolution machines. The new vision: AI as a relationship accelerator.

If successful, this positions Gladly not just as a CX platform, but as an operating system for customer-obsessed companies.

For Enterprise Buyers

Time to rethink your CX stack. If you're currently trapped in ticket-based legacy systems that punish personalization, Gladly offers a credible escape hatch. It’s especially attractive if you're seeking unified, scalable AI that won’t require you to trade efficiency for a brand experience.

For Competitors

Gladly is moving upstream with native AI integration and channel-agnostic orchestration. The real risk? If Gladly succeeds in making AI both more personal and more scalable, legacy players look like yesterday’s answer to tomorrow’s problem.

For the Market

This is a strong signal that CX is shifting from reactive support to proactive relationship management, powered by AI. As enterprises race to consolidate tech stacks while increasing customer intimacy, expect to see more platforms embed AI natively rather than as an add-on.

The Bottom Line

CX is a core growth lever. As generative AI matures, the brands that win will be those that fuse automation with intimacy. Gladly’s Customer AI is a bold move in that direction, aiming to fix what legacy platforms broke: the customer relationship.

If 2024 was the year AI went mainstream in CX, 2025 may be the year it gets personal.