People ‘Hate’ AI Customer Service Chatbots. Here’s Why Companies Keep Using Them Anyway.

“I hate AI customer service chatbots,” Carmen Smith of Campo, California, told CNBC. She’s not alone. Nearly one in five consumers who’ve used AI for customer service saw no benefit from the experience — a failure rate four times higher than AI use in general, according to a new Qualtrics report.

The problem isn’t so much the chatbots, but the company that deploys then. AI does what it’s told. If companies prioritize saving money over helping customers, the chatbot will too. Companies that measure success by deflecting customers rather than actually solving problems end up trapping people in loops.

This problem won’t get any better. Within five years, chatbots may handle 80% of digital customer service interactions, according to Zendesk CEO Tom Eggemeier. The early consumer experience suggests the industry has work to do.