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Dive Brief:
Despite speculation that AI will replace human customer service agents, Gartner anticipates that no Fortune 500 companies will eliminate human agents by 2028.
The analyst firm also predicts that among those organizations that expect to severely reduce contact center headcount due to AI, half will drop such plans by 2027.
Most simple customer service requests have already been automated, Kathy Ross, senior director analyst at Gartner, said in an email. “The remaining customer service is inherently complex — and the toughest issues demand human empathy, judgment, and exception management that technology simply can’t replicate.”
Dive Insight:
While companies like Salesforce and Atlassian have been in the headlines for laying off customer service workers, human agents aren’t going away anytime soon, experts say.
For one, customers still value human support and are wary of AI. About 4 in 5 customers said they’d prefer human support over AI support even if wait times and time spent are the same, a HubSpot and SurveyMonkey report found.
That’s especially the case in sensitive and high-stakes situations, experts say.
Economic factors also play a role. “The cost of resolving certain issues with AI may actually exceed that of human agents, especially as usage scales,” Ross said.
That doesn’t mean a reduction in workforce isn’t expected. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, for example, predicted that customer service jobs will become obsolete during a Wednesday interview on “The Tucker Carlson Show.”
“I’m confident that a lot of current customer support that happens over a phone or computer, those people will lose their jobs, and that’ll be better done by an AI,” Altman said.
Customer service experts, too, believe the technology will impact the profession, but they take a more measured approach.
“At the end of the day do we think there will be fewer agents? Yes. But a fully agentless future is not going to happen,” Ross said. “The remaining customer service employee role will look very different: They will be tasked with complex, unique issue resolution as well as relationship building.”
Experts caution against drastically cutting headcount. Customer needs ought to stay in the forefront of their strategies, experts say.
“Cutting too deep risks eroding trust and long-term value,” Ross said. “Instead, companies should blend AI and human strengths: Let technology handle the simple stuff, and reserve human agents for complex, high-risk, or emotionally charged situations.”