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Artificial intelligence may be the future of customer service, but some early consumer reviews suggest that, at least for now, you should prepare to be annoyed.
AI-powered chatbots can act as virtual concierges steering wayward customers to the right resolution, but many customer service chatbots still deflect rather than resolve issues. Outright request refusals — or sending customers into a maze of AI-powered ambiguity that leaves them too exasperated to continue a complaint — are still common in the chatbot playbook.
“I hate AI customer service chatbots,” said Carmen Smith of Campo, California, who said she often ends up in an endless loop when dealing with the technology. “It seems that no matter what, they all will either point you to some type of FAQs list or repeat information you’ve already tried and found lacking,” Smith said. “I hate dealing with them, but a lot of companies use them nowadays, alas. I’d rather speak to a human being.”
Smith is not alone. Nearly one in five consumers who have used AI for customer service saw no benefit from the experience, according to the Qualtrics 2026 Customer Experience Trends Report. That figure — a failure rate almost four times higher than for AI use in general — points to something specific about customer service that makes it harder for AI to get right. Consumers rank AI applications for customer service among the worst for convenience, time savings, and usefulness. “Too many companies are deploying AI to cut costs, not solve problems, and customers can tell the difference,” said Isabelle Zdatny, head of thought leadership at Qualtrics XM Institute and the author of the report.
