Brazilians are open to AI in customer service, as long as it solves the problem quickly and without forcing the consumer to repeat information. That is the finding of Twilio's Customer Engagement Trends in Brazil report, released in 2026 and reported on November 3: 69% of respondents feel comfortable talking to AI agents, and 58% prefer AI over a human when it offers a faster solution.
Acceptance, however, comes with clear conditions. According to the survey, 79% noticed improvements in AI over the past year, and 67% accept that AI agents from different companies interact with each other to speed up problem resolution. At the same time, only 49% say AI resolves all of their issues most of the time, and 72% try, always or sometimes, to bypass automated service to speak to a person.
The biggest bottleneck is lost context
For 71% of Brazilians, repeating information during service is a recurring problem. In addition, 41% say that when they are transferred from an AI agent to a human agent, the professional receives little or no history of the previous conversation. Another 71% have abandoned a chatbot mid-interaction for lack of basic information, and 37% find it frustrating when AI answers quickly but does not recognize the account or the customer's context.
In Twilio's assessment, the challenge for companies is not only to expand automation, but to integrate channels, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, customer data platforms (CDP) and human teams to preserve interaction history. José Eduardo Ferreira, Twilio's vice president for Latin America, sums up the message: consumers are ready for AI, but they want clarity, and competitive advantage will come from integrating better, not from automating faster.
WhatsApp leads, and transparency is a condition
Messaging apps lead Brazilian consumers' preferences for interacting with brands, at 61%, above the Latin American average of 51%. Next come companies' own apps (46%), physical stores (38%), social networks (34%), email (34%), phone or voice (23%) and SMS (20%).
Transparency emerges as a condition for adoption: 92% want to be told explicitly when they are interacting with an AI, and 80% prefer to receive that information in the first message. Another 91% expect the system to state its nature truthfully when asked. For 71%, trust increases when the company explains how AI works in simple language; 62% feel more comfortable when they know which data is accessed, and 63% value being able to approve certain actions before they are carried out. The possibility of transfer to a human makes 65% more comfortable, and 86% hold the brand directly responsible, not the technology provider, if AI makes a serious mistake. Finally, 84% prefer visually richer, more recognizable messages, versus 16% who opt for traditional SMS.
The figures come from a survey, not a census: to map the scenario, Twilio interviewed more than 1,400 consumers in Latin America, spread across Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Colombia, as part of a global study of 7,652 consumers and 660 business leaders in 18 markets, with data collected between April 9 and May 1, 2026.
Image credit: illustration about customer service channels, generated by AI with Adobe Firefly, via TI Inside. The image is illustrative and is not a chart from Twilio's report.
Sources: TI Inside — 69% of Brazilians accept AI in customer service, Twilio says; Twilio — Customer Engagement Trends in Brazil.
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on cross-checking public posts on X and sources on the internet. Consult the original sources to confirm the details before sharing.
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