Can AI Agents Replace Tier-1 Support? | Chandan Maruthi on the Future of AI Customer Experience

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AI on Fire – Episode 4 🔥 Guest: Chandan Maruthi, Founder & CEO of Twig.so In this episode, we dive deep into the future of customer support, AI agents, and how tier-1 support is evolving into intelligent, self-evaluating systems. Chandan shares how Twig is using AI to automate repetitive tasks, validate answers in real-time, and let human agents focus on empathy and complex cases. 💡 Key topics discussed: Why Tier-1 support roles are being replaced – and what’s next How AI evaluation frameworks build trust and accuracy The rise of agentic AI in customer success and enterprise workflows What MCP (Model Context Protocol) means for AI agent integration Real-world lessons from deploying AI in enterprise support The surprising ways customers use Twig to boost speed & response quality How AI augmentation - automation is redefining CX teams 🎙️ Highlights: Tier-1 support isn’t disappearing — it's evolving. AI without evaluation is like driving in the rain without windshield wipers. Empathy is the most underrated founder skill. 👀 Watch if you’re curious about: Building AI products for enterprise support The agentic era of AI (startups like Cursor, Lovable & Twig) What’s next for AI-powered customer experience ⏱ Timestamps 00:00 Intro – Is Tier 1 Support Dead? 02:00 The Journey to Founding Twig 06:20 Why Evaluation Matters in AI 09:15 How Customers Use Twig in Unexpected Ways 11:30 Inside MCP & the Agentic Ecosystem 17:00 The Truth About AI Support and Human Trust 20:00 🔥 Fire Drill Rapid Round 25:20 Forecast – AI Support in 2026 29:50 Final Thoughts & Free Book from Twig 🔗 Links & Resources: https://twig.so – Try Twig AI for Customer Support https://www.linkedin.com/company/twig-so https://x.com/chandanmaruthi Download Twig’s Free Book on RAG Strategies - AI Agents Directory: https://aiagentsdirectory.com/ Agent Arena: https://www.aarena.ai/ Newsletter: https://agentpulse.beehiiv.com/ #AIonFire #AIAgents #CustomerExperience #AIAutomation #Twig #ChandanMaruthi #AIsupport #MCP #AgenticAI #CustomerSuccess #LLMs #AIpodcast