Phl businesses urged to rethink customer experience in 2026

AI transparency will become an enforceable consumer right as the AI identity crisis deepens.

- By NICHOLAS KONTOPOULOS

The AI identity crisis is here. Imagine a phone conversation where you only later realize the “person” was AI. This is already happening. Most consumers cannot reliably tell human agents from AI voice systems.

Our Twilio research found that 90 percent of consumers, including from the Philippines, failed to correctly identify AI-generated voice clips.

When the majority of customers cannot distinguish who they are speaking to, regulatory intervention is a certainty.

As voice AI advances, we are seeing agentic systems capable of making autonomous decisions and engaging in highly natural dialogue. Mandatory disclosure will become a core compliance requirement. Organizations will need clear, explicit identification. Something like, “I am Ruby, [Spokesperson] ‘s Voice AI assistant,” will become standard.

This level of clarity is driven by regulation and by risk management. Concealing AI use exposes companies to reputational damage, customer distrust, and significant legal liability.

Technology leaders are preparing now. Apple’s call-screening shows how mainstream devices can detect and classify machine interactions. As this functionality sharpens, transparency shifts. It moves from a mere compliance obligation to a fundamental customer expectation.