Listen Labs vs SurveyMonkey

Listen Labs Launches Listen Twins AI Models

Listen Labs, an AI platform for customer understanding, launched Listen Twins, which are one-to-one AI models of real people in a company's target audience. Each Twin is built from an in-depth interview with a real person and can predict their behavior and reasoning. Companies can query a panel of 100+ Twins and get responses in seconds, with test accuracy matching real answers at 93%. The platform recruits from a network of over 50 million people and enriches each model with company-specific data. Use cases include testing campaign concepts, messaging, product pricing, and market entry. Listen Labs emphasizes responsible development and recommends full research studies for high-stakes decisions.

• Listen Labs launched Listen Twins, AI models of real people predicted to behave like them.
• Each Twin is built from an in-depth interview and can predict what that person will do and why.
• Twin answers matched the distribution of real people's answers with 93% accuracy in testing.

Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Listen Labs

Salesforce announced a definitive agreement to acquire Listen Labs, an AI-powered customer research platform that automates interviews and analysis. The deal, estimated at around $2 billion (terms not disclosed), is expected to close in Salesforce's fiscal Q4 2027, pending regulatory approval. Founded in 2023, Listen Labs offers a network of over 50 million research participants and supports interviews in 120+ languages. Its AI capabilities include research design, participant recruitment, interview conduction, response analysis, and creating 'digital twins'—AI simulations of customer behavior. The acquisition will integrate Listen Labs into Salesforce AI Labs, aiming to bring qualitative research into CRM workflows, enhancing Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud with dynamic customer context for AI agents. Founders Alfred Wahlforss and Florian Juengermann will remain CEO and CTO, respectively. This move could make customer research a living data source within Salesforce's ecosystem, though integration specifics are yet to be detailed.

• Salesforce announced a definitive agreement to acquire Listen Labs, an AI customer research platform.
• Financial terms were not disclosed, but reports estimate the deal at around $2 billion.
• The transaction is expected to close in Salesforce's fiscal fourth quarter of 2027, pending regulatory approval.

Listen Labs abandons $1.5B funding for Salesforce acquisition talks

Market research startup Listen Labs signed a term sheet for a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation, with Menlo Ventures leading, but walked away from the deal. This rare move likely stems from acquisition talks with Salesforce, which has been negotiating to buy Listen Labs for around $2 billion, according to Business Insider. The talks are not finalized. Listen Labs, which uses voice AI for customer interviews, has about $30 million in annualized revenue. Its competitors include Simile, which recently raised $200 million at a $2 billion valuation. If Salesforce talks collapse, VCs expect Listen Labs to return to market seeking a valuation of $2 billion or higher. Salesforce may decide the 67x revenue multiple is too steep. Listen Labs' customers include Microsoft, Canva, Anthropic, and Sweetgreen.

• Listen Labs signed a term sheet for a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation, with Menlo Ventures set to lead.
• Listen Labs walked away from the signed term sheet, a rare occurrence in venture capital.
• Salesforce has held talks to acquire Listen Labs for around $2 billion, but negotiations are not finalized.

Brands revive human-staffed phone lines amid AI fatigue

Amid growing consumer frustration with AI customer service, several direct-to-consumer brands like Sproos, Made In, and Trade Coffee are reintroducing human-staffed phone lines as a differentiator. A SurveyMonkey study found that 79% of Americans prefer human interaction over AI agents. These brands report increased customer loyalty and deeper insights into customer journeys through phone conversations. The trend highlights a backlash against over-automation and a strategic move to blend human touch with digital efficiency, with some brands even training staff to provide expert advice and sharing call insights with marketing teams.

• 79% of Americans strongly prefer interacting with a human over an AI agent (SurveyMonkey study).
• Sproos, a DTC showerhead brand, launched a human-staffed phone line on Sundays through Fridays, receiving about 30 calls per day.
• Made In cookware operates an AI chatbot but also maintains a phone line, with staff using FaceTime and Zoom for customer assistance.

EU AI Act Disclosure Rules Shape Customer Service Bot Decisions

This CMSWire article examines how brands should determine when to use AI versus human agents in customer service, citing MIT research showing human-AI combinations often underperform the best human-only or AI-only systems. Consumer studies indicate a strong preference for humans in high-stakes interactions, but acceptance of AI for transactional tasks. The EU AI Act Article 50 transparency obligations, effective August 2, 2026, require clear disclosure when interacting with AI. The article argues that transparency, when done well, builds trust and can expand AI's role over time. It offers a framework based on friction, conditional preference, transparency, and frontline knowledge to guide where AI should handle interactions, emphasizing process redesign over simple task reassignment.

• EU AI Act Article 50 transparency obligations require clear disclosure when interacting with AI, effective August 2, 2026.
• MIT Center for Collective Intelligence reviewed 106 experiments and found human-AI combinations underperformed the best human-only or AI-only systems on average.
• Metrigy's 2025-26 consumer study found 84.7% prefer human agents, but 46% will use AI for specific transactional tasks.

SurveyMonkey announces 40 #1 rankings in G2’s Fall 2026 reports

SurveyMonkey announces 40 #1 rankings in G2’s Fall 2026 reports August 27, 2026