Twilio survey finds conversational AI adoption gap widens

A Twilio survey of mobile industry professionals found that 60% are already using conversational AI, while a further 24% are piloting or planning deployments.

The findings are based on responses from 985 industry professionals surveyed at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. They suggest many organisations now view conversational AI as a tool for day-to-day customer engagement rather than a technology confined to trials.

Among respondents already using conversational AI, 82% reported measurable value, including return on investment, efficiency gains and time savings. Six in ten active users said the technology had brought transformational improvements to customer communications.

This points to a widening gap between companies that have moved into live use and those still assessing whether to deploy it. Twilio's data also indicates that direct experience with the technology is shaping views on governance, confidence and likely future use.

Adoption Gap

Confidence in governance and data protection frameworks was much higher among organisations already using conversational AI. Twilio found that 93% of current users reported some degree of confidence in those frameworks, with 53% saying their confidence was high.

By contrast, confidence among respondents not using conversational AI stood at 28%. The results suggest organisations with practical exposure to the technology are more likely to feel comfortable managing the related data and compliance issues.

For businesses that have yet to adopt conversational AI, the barriers appeared to be more operational than ideological. Security and privacy considerations were cited by 20% of non-users, while 17% pointed to complexity and access to expertise, and another 17% named deployment costs.

At the same time, 31% of respondents not currently using conversational AI said they had no major concerns. That suggests that for a sizeable portion of the market, the issue may be implementation readiness rather than opposition to the technology itself.

Peter Bell, EMEA VP of Marketing at Twilio, said: "At MWC this year, the conversation around AI felt notably different. The focus has shifted from experimentation to execution - how to operationalise it within customer engagement strategies, scale it effectively, and integrate it into everyday interactions across channels.

"What's emerging is a more mature approach, where success is defined not just by innovation, but by the ability to deliver seamless, personalised customer experiences, backed by strong governance and real business impact."

Customer Journeys

The survey also showed strong expectations for a broader role for AI in customer interactions. Nearly six in ten respondents, or 59%, said they expect at least a quarter of customer journeys to be handled by autonomous AI agents within the next 12 months.

That reflects a market in which conversational systems are increasingly being assessed on their ability to manage larger parts of customer contact, rather than simply support isolated tasks. In practice, this can include handling requests through voice or text in real time across multiple channels.

Twilio's results suggest scepticism is concentrated among those with no direct experience of the technology. Doubts about conversational AI's future were largely found among respondents who are not yet using it, reinforcing the idea that adoption may influence sentiment as much as technical performance.

For telecoms and digital customer service suppliers, the broader implication is that the commercial debate is moving away from whether conversational AI has a role and towards how it should be deployed and governed. For companies selling into customer engagement functions, the survey points to demand for clearer deployment models, in-house expertise and stronger controls around privacy and data management.

It also underlines a shift in measurement. Instead of framing conversational AI as a research project or innovation exercise, many respondents appear to be evaluating it through operational metrics such as efficiency, time saved and return on investment.