Morgan Stanley says AI agents could boost, not threaten, call-center firms

Investing.com -- Morgan Stanley said in a note Wednesday that the rise of consumer AI agents such as Meta's Muse could benefit communications and software vendors long seen as vulnerable to automation, rather than threaten them.

Analyst Elizabeth Porter argued that agents like Muse and Instinct, personal assistants that complete tasks on users' behalf, could expand the volume of interactions businesses field, cushioning contact-center vendors whose seat-based models have been under pressure from AI.

"Consumer agents lower the effort required to engage a business, while enterprise AI lowers the cost of responding, potentially expanding communications volumes and usage-based monetization," she wrote.

"Enterprise AI makes it cheaper to answer; consumer AI makes it easier to ask," the analyst added.

Porter believes Twilio offers the broadest exposure, benefiting from the messages and calls an agent initiates to complete a task, such as authentication texts, reservation confirmations and follow-ups, on top of its existing usage and software-attachment model.

For contact-center names such as NICE, Five9 and RingCentral, she said higher volumes could slow the risk of seat reductions while automation priced by interaction expands.

Among web-presence providers, Porter sees Wix as better placed than GoDaddy, as agents increasingly need systems to discover businesses, book services and transact rather than simply display information. Shopify, she added, is the most direct beneficiary in e-commerce software.

Still, Porter cautioned this is "a stronger medium-term bull case," not a near-term catalyst, and said she is wary of extrapolating upside into third-quarter results.

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