Businesses Keep Investing In AI Customer Service, But Customers Still Want Humans.

Since AI became the best thing since sliced bread (so to speak), everybody’s been rushing to automate – from writing emails and code to operating machinery and even making calls; businesses have been replacing just about any and everything possible with artificial intelligence. Indeed, chatbots, AI receptionists, virtual assistants and automated phone systems have been rolled out in the name of efficiency, lower costs and 24/7 availability.

And sure, the logic seems at least mostly sound. That is, if AI can answer routine questions in seconds, why wouldn’t businesses use it? But the problem, although incredibly obvious, seems to be one that most people seem to have neglected: customers don’t appear to be nearly as enthusiastic as the companies deploying it.

New research commissioned by Answer4u and conducted by YouGov among 2,046 UK adults found that 90% of consumers prefer interacting with a real person when contacting a business. More interestingly though, 74% said they strongly prefer speaking to a human, while just 2% said they would rather interact with an AI system.

So at a time when AI is being positioned as “the future of customer service“, that’s a remarkably old-fashioned result, wouldn’t you say?

Let’s Talk About the AI Adoption Gap

The findings highlight what could be (and has been) described as an “AI adoption gap”. Businesses are investing heavily in customer-facing AI, but the problem is that customer expectations may not be evolving at the same pace.

This isn’t necessarily because consumers dislike AI. In fact, AI tools have become part of everyday life for millions of people. Separate YouGov research found that more than a third of UK adults use AI frequently, but here’s where the discrepancy comes in: only 18% of those surveyed reported that they trust AI systems to make decisions or take actions on their behalf.

So, people are definitely using AI, and enthusiastically at that, but they still seem to be drawing a pretty clear line in terms of what their boundaries are. It seems like the distinction is that they’re often happy to use AI when they’re in control, but they’re less comfortable when AI becomes the gatekeeper standing between them and the help they actually need.

It’s Not “AI Versus Humans”

One of the most interesting aspects of the Answer4u research is that it doesn’t really support the popular “AI versus humans” narrative. Rather, it suggests that customers are drawing a line between different types of interactions and deciding which ones they like and which ones they don’t.

Few people need a human being to tell them what a company’s opening hours are, and most don’t require a live agent to book a routine appointment or direct them to the correct department. Thus, these are exactly the kinds of repetitive tasks where automation can genuinely improve the customer experience. That is, there’s actually a clear difference in efficiency between working with a real human as opposed to an AI agent.

However, the problems arise when businesses try to automate conversations that require empathy, judgement or flexibility. Human things.

As Answer4u’s research notes, customers are often contacting businesses because something’s gone wrong. They may be frustrated, confused, worried or seeking reassurance, and in those situations, consumers tend to place a premium on human understanding in a way that technology still struggles to replicate. I know I do.

And this research isn’t alone in its findings; they show similar results to other industry research. A 2025 YouGov study commissioned by Pega found that 65% of consumers preferred human-led support and only 2% wanted to interact exclusively with generative AI chatbots. It also found that half of the respondents rarely, or never, achieved successful outcomes through AI-only customer service interactions.

The Hidden Risk Of Over-Automation For Businesses

For companies, the temptation to automate is understandable. It can help cut costs and free up employees to take care of other tasks or deal with a larger volume of clients. AI, however, promises scalability, consistency and round-the-clock availability. Thus, in an uncertain economic environment, those benefits are becoming rather attractive.

But, even with all these benefits in mind, there’s a definite and undeniable danger in treating automation as a cost-cutting exercise rather than just a customer experience strategy.

If customers feel trapped in endless chatbot loops or unable to reach a human when they need one, businesses actually risk damaging trust rather than improving service. In fact, it seems as though there’s growing sentiment around this, with many people feeling as though some organisations are prioritising operational savings over customer experience.

So at this point in the world of AI, the challenge for businesses has really become figuring out how and where AI can actually add value, rather than just inserting it anywhere and everywhere.

The Hybrid Future

Ironically, the future of customer service may look less revolutionary than many AI “evangelists” predicted –a little less exciting, but a lot more realistic. Indeed, rather than replacing people altogether, the most successful businesses are likely to use AI behind the scenes and around the edges of customer interactions. AI can handle FAQs, routing, scheduling and other routine tasks, while human agents can focus on complex conversations, problem-solving and relationship building. It’s about augmentation over straightforward automation.

In other words, the companies that end up being the most successful will probably be the ones that stop focusing on trying to have AI replace everything and start figuring out how AI can help support them instead.

Because despite the billions being invested in automation, consumers appear to have delivered a surprisingly clear message. They don’t necessarily mind talking to AI, but they just want to know there’s a human available when it matters.