There’s an important question many business owners must learn to answer: Are customers becoming more comfortable with AI in customer service?
The answer is that AI adoption in customer service is increasing in 2026; however, most customers still prefer human support, and trust, accuracy and ease will determine if AI strengthens or weakens your customer experience strategy.
AI is not a strategy; however, experience is. AI can support your customer service strategy, but it won’t replace it. And that is why you need to read and understand the impact of the findings regarding AI in the 2026 State of Customer Service and CX research report. This year, I included more questions about AI, and this is the information you must consider as you implement AI into your strategy.
Before diving into the data, it is important to remember that customer expectations rarely change overnight. New technologies often generate excitement and attention; however, customer behaviour tends to evolve much more gradually. That is why business owners should focus less on the hype surrounding AI and more on the practical realities revealed by customer feedback and actual usage patterns.
- Firstly, 49 per cent of US customers are more comfortable using AI for customer support this year than the previous year.
This is a minor increase of just 2 per cent over the past year. I predict this number will continue to increase as AI technology improves and companies make it easier for customers to use.
- Secondly, 50 per cent have successfully resolved a customer service issue without the help of a human.
This number needs to increase before AI becomes mainstream. And age makes a difference: 54 per cent of Gen-Z have had success, compared with just 34 per cent of Baby Boomers.
- Importantly, 53 per cent have noticed an improvement in AI customer service technologies over the past year. As customers become more comfortable and confident, as already mentioned, this number will increase next year.
- More than 50 per cent believe chatbots have significantly improved the speed and efficiency of customer service. Try it, you’ll like it. Customers who believe chatbots improve the experience will continue to use them.
- Interestingly, 32 per cent of customers stopped doing business with a company because self-service options were not provided.
Our research also finds that seven out of 10 customers prefer using the phone when they need support; however, a third of customers still want the choice. By the way, it’s the younger generations that drive this statistic.
- 57 per cent say companies that offer AI-fuelled types of self-service options frustrate them.
Unfortunately, some companies’ self-service is not as intuitive or easy to use as it should be. Adding to the frustration is the inability to easily connect to a live agent.
- Troublingly, 45 per cent say AI and ChatGPT ‘scare’ them. These customers have a scary vision of AI taking over the world. But AI horror movies like I, Robot, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Matrix are just movies – they’re meant to be scary.
- 59 per cent feel that with customer support, they dislike self-service and want to speak with a human.
AI isn’t perfect, and if a customer has two or three bad self-service experiences, it makes sense they don’t want to risk it.
- Furthermore, 53 per cent say they have received incorrect information from an AI self-service bot. AI is known to make mistakes; however, we also receive incorrect information from live agents. Nobody and no technology is perfect!
- Finally, 68 per cent of customers prefer to speak with a live agent rather than use a digital self-service solution.
We end with this one to emphasise that, no matter how quickly AI customer experience improves, when customers have a problem with a company, 7 out of 10 prefer the phone.
Taken together, these findings highlight an important theme. Customers are not rejecting AI outright; rather, they are evaluating it based on the same standards they apply to any customer service channel.
If AI is fast, accurate and easy to use, customers are willing to embrace it. If it creates friction, they will quickly look for human assistance instead.
For business owners, this should not be viewed as a setback for AI. Instead, it reinforces the importance of balancing technology with human support.
The companies achieving the best results are typically those that use AI to enhance the customer journey while ensuring people remain available when customers need additional help.
As you look at these findings, the message is clear. The data show that AI is improving; however, adoption remains slow despite the hype.
AI is becoming an expected option for speed and convenience, yet trust, ease of use, and immediate access to a human remain the deciding factors in whether customers use it or a avoid it.
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