This weekly update brings important news about how AI is changing customer service around the world. The biggest story might surprise you: companies are not replacing workers with robots as quickly as everyone thought they would.

The Human Jobs Are Safer Than Expected

A research company called Gartner did a big study in September and October of this year. They asked customer service leaders at 321 companies about AI. The results showed that only 20% of companies cut down the number of human workers because of AI. This is much lower than what many people expected. Instead of firing people, many companies are doing something different. About 42% of organizations are actually hiring new people who know how to work with AI. These new jobs include people who help plan AI projects, people who design conversation AI, and people who train AI systems. This means that while AI is changing customer service, it is also creating new opportunities for workers.

Another important finding from Gartner's study shows that 55% of companies kept the same number of workers while handling more customer questions. This means that AI is helping companies work smarter and faster, not just cutting costs. Even better, Gartner believes that half of the companies that are planning to get rid of workers will change their minds by 2027. This is because the dream of having customer service with no humans at all is very hard to achieve.

Customers Are Getting Impatient

At the same time, customers around the world are becoming less patient with customer service. 57% of customers now refuse to wait longer than 10 minutes for help, which is up from 50% just one year ago. Some customers get frustrated even faster. 20% of customers get angry after just 5 minutes, up from 14% last year. This means companies need to help customers quickly or they will leave and go to a different company.

The top complaint customers have is that AI systems do not know when to let them talk to a real person. When AI cannot figure out what the customer needs, it should ask a human to help. One company called Cotopaxi, which sells outdoor equipment, made a special setting so customers can always choose to talk to a person if they want. This is becoming really important.

However, there is some good news. During the busy holiday shopping time, 72% of customers said they would be willing to wait longer because they understand that stores are very busy. This shows that customers can be patient when they understand why.

The Best Way Forward: Mixing AI and Humans

The experts are all saying the same thing: the companies that win are the ones that use both AI and humans together in the right way. AI is very good at handling the easy, repetitive work like answering the same questions over and over. Humans are much better at handling complicated problems and understanding how a customer really feels.

One important idea is called "Strategic Gating". This means AI handles the easy work first, like helping someone reset their password or check an order. Then, if the problem is hard or the customer is upset, the AI immediately sends them to a human worker who can really help. This way, the human workers can focus on the problems that matter most instead of spending all day on simple questions.

When AI makes a mistake or offers a fake apology, it can actually make customers more upset. But when a real human takes over and shows they care, the customer feels much better. A good customer service system needs to have this mix of speed from AI and caring from humans.

Big Sales During Holiday Shopping

In late November and early December, stores had a shopping event called Cyber Week. During this time, AI influenced about 17% of all orders in the United States, which added up to $13.5 billion in sales. Stores that used their own special AI agents for customers saw 32% faster sales growth than stores that did not use AI.

When AI tools were set up carefully and tested properly before being used, they helped customers find things faster and buy things more easily. However, companies that did not test their AI carefully before using it had problems. Customers had slower experiences and did not trust the AI as much. This shows that when companies spend time getting AI ready the right way, it really helps their business.

What Comes Next

Looking ahead to 2026, experts predict that AI will get even smarter. AI will start trying to prevent problems before customers even know they are coming, instead of just fixing problems after they happen. AI might notice that a customer is about to have an issue and reach out to help before the customer gets upset.

Another prediction is that for simple requests, some customers will actually prefer talking to AI instead of humans because it is so fast. However, the most important idea is that companies need to keep humans in the loop for anything complicated or emotional. The future of good customer service is mixing the speed and smartness of AI with the caring and understanding that only humans can give.