In marketing circles, friction has become synonymous with “pain point.” Eradicating it, conventional wisdom goes, is crucial to building a customer-centric strategy that yields competitive advantage. Taking a cue from policy applications of behavioral economics, marketers seek to “nudge” people along the customer journey and remove friction in the battle against “sludge.” At many firms, “artificial intelligence” has become the go-to tool for creating frictionless experiences and removing impediments that slow down efficient customer journeys. While this was true before the pandemic, Covid-19 has only hastened this digital transformation trend by creating demand for more contactless customer experiences that reduce points of potential friction, like in-person human interactions.