And who is that’s always right?
Reality Check
Customer service workers are some of the most threatened by AI automation, and a lot of corporate leaders are more than happy to let those workers lose their jobs. But here’s a loss that their companies can’t afford: paying customers.
Why bring that up? Because a new survey from the technology consulting firm Gartner suggests that people don’t just dislike the idea of AI being used in customer service — they’re actively repulsed by it.
The survey, which was conducted in December 2023 and involved over 5,700 customers, found that a whopping 64 percent of respondents said that they would prefer companies not to use AI in customer service.
But over half — 53 percent — took an even harder line: they’d consider switching to a competitor if they learned a company was using AI in a customer service role — a staunch rebuttal to employers trying to automate this sector.
Human Needed
It’s not hard to understand the aversion to AI being used in this capacity. When customers call in, they want help. And to get help, they want to speak to another person, which can already be a tedious thing to get in the age of sprawling phone trees and maladroit website chatbots.
AIs, while possibly useful at filtering customers down to the right places, can be yet another unwanted intermediary that’s also frustrating to communicate with.
“Once customers exhaust self-service options, they’re ready to reach out to a person,” said Keith McIntosh, a senior principal and researcher at Gartner, in a statement. “Many customers fear that GenAI will simply become another obstacle between them and an agent. The onus is on service and support leaders to show customers that AI can streamline the service experience.”
Trending Downward
Despite this, McIntosh says there’s a considerable push to automate this industry. Many companies already feature AI-powered chatbots on their websites, while others have already replaced customer service teams with ChatGPT.
“Sixty percent of customer service and support leaders are under pressure to adopt AI in their function,” McIntosh said. “But they can’t ignore concerns about AI use, especially when it could mean losing customers.”
AI developers are gladly spearheading this push. Microsoft, for example, has introduced a new version of its AI assistant Copilot that’s designed specifically for use in call centers.
But if customers aren’t repelled by AI agents from the outset, they might be by the time they actually interact with one. When McDonald’s experimented with an AI drive-thru this year, the out-of-its-depth AI kept screwing up orders so frequently that the fast food giant was forced to dump it. It’s as they say: hell hath no fury like a customer scorned.
More on AI: CNN Firing 100 Employees Amid “Strategic Push Into AI”
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