For years, AI in customer experience (CX) has been framed as a productivity layer: it summarized calls, it suggested next best actions, it automated repetitive workflows.
But that framing is outdated. AI is no longer just a tool sitting on top of the workforce. It is becoming part of the workforce itself, reshaping how work is designed, how teams operate, and how CX is delivered at scale.
Welcome to the era of the hybrid workforce. And no - this has nothing to do with remote vs. in-office work.
Hybrid Doesn’t Mean Location. It Means Composition and Strategy.
When we talk about a “hybrid workforce” in 2026, we’re talking about teams composed of:
- Human agents
- AI agents
- The systems that orchestrate work between them
AI agents have evolved from passive assistants to active participants in CX operations. They’re not just generating outputs, they’re taking action. They can manage workflows, use tools, complete multi-step tasks, and improve over time.
That shift changes everything. Once AI can act – not just suggest – the question is no longer:
“How do we automate more?”
The question becomes:
“How do we design work between humans and AI?”
The Real Shift: From Automation to Workforce Design
Many organizations still approach AI as a series of point solutions to:
- Automate deflection
- Reduce average handle time (AHT)
- Increase containment
- Improve QA coverage
Those are tactical improvements. The hybrid workforce is a structural change. It forces leaders to rethink:
- How work is partitioned between humans and machines
- How hybrid teams are managed
- How performance for both human and AI agents is defined and measured
- What the evolving role of the human agent actually becomes
In this new paradigm, AI doesn’t just “assist” humans, and humans don’t simply “supervise” automation.
Instead, they collaborate.
AI handles goal-driven, action-oriented tasks at scale, allowing humans to focus on judgment, creativity, adaptability and emotional intelligence. These are the uniquely human capabilities that remain critical in an AI-augmented world.
The highest-performing CX organizations won’t be the ones with the most automation. They’ll be the ones who intentionally design and evolve how humans and AI work together.
Why 2026 is a Tipping Point
AI agents are progressing rapidly from basic automation toward greater autonomy. As autonomy increases, operational complexity increases too.
Scaling effectively and with longevity is increasingly about operational readiness. Organizations that treat AI as a bolt-on capability will struggle. Organizations that treat AI as a workforce component will pull ahead.
As AI moves from reactive assistant to autonomous actor, new strategic, economic, and organizational questions emerge:
- What work should AI own end-to-end?
- Where should humans stay in the loop?
- How do you build trust in hybrid teams?
- How do you measure performance when outcomes are co-created?
- How do you avoid common deployment pitfalls as autonomy increases?
And the leaders who start designing for this now will move faster, safer, and with greater confidence into the next era of CX. As AI agents become active participants in CX, we’re witnessing a fundamental shift in the accompanying operating system.
This shift touches:
- Workforce planning
- Quality and performance measurement
- Leadership and governance
- Change management
- Talent strategy
- Risk and compliance
In a hybrid workforce, some interactions may be fully AI-led. Some may be human-led with AI augmentation. Others may move fluidly between AI humans based on complexity and context.
The winners will be the organizations that intentionally design this orchestration.
Join Us: What CX Must Get Right in 2026
On February 26, we’re hosting a thought leadership webinar, What CX Orgs Must Get Right in 2026: Building a Human + AI Workforce.
Cresta will be joined by Pascal Bornet, a globally recognized authority on Intelligent Automation and Agentic AI, for a grounded, no-hype conversation about what it really takes to build and lead a hybrid workforce in CX
Together with Devon Mychal, VP of Product Marketing at Cresta, they’ll explore:
- How humans and AI agents successfully work together at scale
- How the role of human agents evolves as AI autonomy increases
- What it takes to run, govern, and measure a hybrid workforce
- Why operational readiness determines whether AI deployments succeed or stall
If you’re a CX leader thinking beyond containment rates and into operating model design, this conversation is for you.
Because the hybrid workforce isn’t coming.
It’s already here. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to hear from the experts.
