Samantha Murray: Topic.
Kristine Kukich: We are full of valuable information, and it’s changing so fast.
Samantha Murray: That’s right.
Annie Reiss: We just caught some more news about aggregations and new engines.
Samantha Murray: Catching up on my reading.
Annie Reiss: That’s like teenage sex—everyone talks about it, but no one really knows how to explain it. I don’t have a polite or politically correct version of that sentence.
Samantha Murray: I loved that. That’s a great way to kick off the webinar.
Annie Reiss: Are we supposed to say that?
Samantha Murray: It’s perfect.
Kristine Kukich: I’m going to have to steal that one.
Annie Reiss: Do you think I can say that?
Kristine Kukich: I think they already heard it.
Annie Reiss: Maybe I should run ChatGPT to come up with something more politically correct.
Samantha Murray: We’ve got 18 people so far. Welcome, everyone. I’m seeing some familiar names.
Annie Reiss: Hello, I’m excited.
Kristine Kukich: Oh, Kathy, Julie.
Annie Reiss: It’s the top of the hour. Hello, everyone. We’re delighted to have you join us. As people are joining, I’ll ask a question for Samantha and Kristine—and for everyone here. What have you used AI for in the most creative way, and why? My daughter woke up one morning and said she had a dream…
Kristine Kukich: We’re leveraging AI tools to handle level-one questions and frequently asked questions so we can move to a higher level. What we haven’t perfected yet is when to hand off to a live person and what that experience looks like, but that support piece is becoming solid. As we move into ongoing engagement and nurturing, communication is key. Personalized recommendations fit customer education just like they do in the product. We can use in-app tools to highlight functionality. If we see a pattern in support questions, we can recommend where users should go next and provide the training they need to succeed. That all falls into this stage. Loyalty programs are typically led by customer marketing, but customer education should partner. In advocacy, the same applies—these teams belong together because they benefit from each other’s strengths. AI is also powerful for collecting feedback. I’ve created entire case studies and multiple assets from a single customer interview using AI. As we move into data, analyzing it and extracting insights becomes easier. You don’t need deep technical knowledge—you can ask questions, generate insights, and even create dashboards. Data tells the story you want it to tell.
Annie Reiss: There’s a question about examples of customer teams succeeding or failing with AI.
Kristine Kukich: What I’m seeing most right now is success with video. Teams are using AI for scripting and increasingly experimenting with avatars. Tools like Synthesia are gaining traction. That’s where we’re seeing strong adoption.
Samantha Murray: I can share an example shortly, but first, what stood out to me is the convergence of previously separate functions—customer education, marketing, support, and customer success. These are no longer isolated. To create cohesive customer experiences, systems must be connected, and teams must share objectives. Everyone needs to understand the full customer journey and their role in it, including future AI agents. All touchpoints—website, social, email, product, customer success tools, community, LMS, and labs—must feed into a system of record like a data warehouse. That enables an intelligence layer to analyze behavior and orchestrate personalized experiences. Customer education no longer just owns the LMS—it’s part of the full customer experience. This allows organizations to measure impact at scale and determine whether they are actually delivering value.
Annie Reiss: How much messy data do you think we’ll get from all these systems?
Samantha Murray: A lot. That’s why standard operating procedures, alignment, and data hygiene are critical. AI helps clean and synthesize data, but you still need strong foundations. Otherwise, it’s garbage in, garbage out. Executive buy-in is essential to align teams and invest in these foundations.
Annie Reiss: The challenge is interoperability and ROI. Let’s move to our final poll—what business KPI matters most to you: cost reduction, product adoption, time to value, business growth, or something else?
Kristine Kukich: Product adoption often comes first because it’s easiest to measure. As programs mature, organizations start measuring deeper business outcomes like retention and churn. My focus this year is defining what a “trained user” looks like because that directly impacts retention.
Samantha Murray: Product adoption is foundational in SaaS. If customers don’t use the product, everything else fails—retention, expansion, and growth.
Annie Reiss: Is this a big moment for customer education? Is AI a force multiplier or just hype?
Samantha Murray: I see two camps—those who believe AI will transform everything and skeptics. I’m in the middle. AI is powerful, but only if you have strong foundations and strategy. Without that, it won’t deliver value.
Kristine Kukich: You need a plan. The next 18 months will definitely transform customer education because AI is already embedded in our tools. Whether it’s a true force multiplier remains to be seen, but it’s changing how we work.
Samantha Murray: It’s also changing the experience of work itself. Organizations need to consider how employees use AI and how it impacts their roles.
Annie Reiss: We’re almost at time. Any final questions?
Kristine Kukich: I think we covered everything.
Annie Reiss: We started with a dream—hopefully this isn’t a far-off one.
Samantha Murray: It’s an exciting time. With the right foundations, we can unlock tremendous value for customers and teams.
Annie Reiss: Thank you, Kristine. Thank you, Sam. And thanks to everyone who joined us. Have a wonderful day.
Samantha Murray: Thanks, everyone.
Annie Reiss: Bye.
