Genesys has launched the Genesys Cloud AI Studio, an innovation hub that supports contact centers in pivoting toward agentic-AI-driven customer engagement.
AI Guides are the core component within the hub. These allow customer service teams to develop virtual agents using plain, natural language.
Indeed, leaders just need to give the agent a job description, with tasks they should perform alongside APIs to send data to, and they’ll receive a prototype. They may then test, refine, and deploy it.
These agents don’t follow rigid decision-tree-based flows. Instead, they act autonomously, make decisions, and adapt so they don’t snap whenever a customer says something unexpected.
Businesses can also extend their virtual agents’ reach, so they collaborate with AI agents in back- and middle-office systems, automating resolution flows that go beyond the contact center’s typical remit.
Then, there are configurable guardrails and safety controls, which the contact center can test to ensure accuracy, compliance, and an appropriate tone of voice.
Not Just Another AI Studio Release, Genesys Presents a “Grown Up Path” to Agentic AI
The move is a big step forward for Genesys. However, some industry observers may overlook its significance, viewing it as just another CX and conversational AI vendor launching an “AI Studio”.
Indeed, there is a risk of this appearing as a “Yes, we understand generative and agentic AI, too” announcement. However, Ian Jacobs, VP & Lead Analyst at Opus Research, believes it’s much more than that.
“What’s worth paying attention to in the Genesys rollout is that they’re not just tossing businesses a shiny new playground for large language models and calling it a day,” he told CX Today.
“With AI Guides, they’re baking in real governance and safety guardrails from the start, basically acknowledging that if you want your virtual agents to think for themselves, you’d better have a way to keep them from embarrassing your brand.
“Plus, the no-code setup means business teams can actually build and tweak these smart agents without waiting in line for IT.
In a market full of Studios that focus on creative freedom first and risk management second (or not at all), Genesys is pitching a more grown-up path to agentic AI.
Another differentiator is the role of the Genesys Event Data Platform, which tracks intent, outcome, and behavioral data across all contact center conversations.
With this insight, contact centers can not only gauge the performance of their virtual agents across customer contact reasons but also iterate on them so they continually improve.
The ability to plug new language models into the back-end as they emerge, with continuous A/B testing to measure their effectiveness, also helps in this regard.
Additionally, there’s the option to pull custom models from Amazon Bedrock, allowing organizations to apply their own LLMs.
For that, contact centers will need to call upon IT. Yet, for the rest, the Genesys Cloud AI Studio strives to give service teams the ability to enhance their virtual agents themselves.
A Foundation for Autonomous Customer Service
As Jacobs summarized: “For companies wanting semi-autonomous customer engagement without the AI going rogue, this is a pretty solid foundation.”
Indeed, that’s what Genesys is essentially offering its customers: a foundation for autonomous AI that is secure and non-confronting.
That’s critical, as all the chatter around agentic AI and, in many cases, external pressure to advance their AI strategies can make contact center leaders feel like they’re fighting an uphill battle.
The Genesys Cloud AI Studio presents something much more tangible, and that’s no coincidence, according to Olivier Jouve, Chief Product Officer at Genesys.
“Many organizations lack the infrastructure and governance framework for the responsible use of agentic AI with their customers today,” he said. “We’re focused on giving every business an accessible and safe path forward.
With AI Guides, Genesys is delivering the foundation for agentic orchestration with guardrails and trust embedded so our customers can accelerate innovation and position themselves to drive ROI and differentiation.
In this sense, Genesys is easing the deployment experience for its customers. Gartner praised the vendor for this in its recent Peer Insights “Voice of the Customer” for CCaaS 2025 report, ranking Genesys as one of only two “customers’ choice” providers.
Elsewhere, Genesys also became the first company to announce that it had surpassed $2BN in annual CCaaS revenue.
Yet, back to the Genesys Cloud AI Studio announcement. The offering will be available before the close of July 2025, alongside Custom Conversation Summaries, a solution that allows contact centers to tailor their automated agent wrap-up notes.
