The renaissance of customer care

The prediction many held was that AI would replace customer service entirely, but this forecast was fundamentally incorrect. Instead of eliminating the need for human interaction, AI has ushered in a new era for customer care, focusing on enhancing the human connection rather than replacing it. Customer service was once seen as the first casualty of the AI era, with large language models making contacts repetitive and scriptable, leading to a belief that automation was inevitable.

However, over the past four years, this prediction has proven to be inaccurate. AI has not eradicated the function, but rather, it has breathed new life into it. Not all customer interactions are the same, and the mistake made was treating customer service as a singular, uniform task. While many contacts are routine, such as questions about order status, password resets, or delivery date changes, these are ideal candidates for automation.

AI systems can handle these queries quickly and accurately, providing customers with instant, precise answers. However, when a situation becomes complex, emotional, or trust-sensitive, customers overwhelmingly prefer human interaction. A Bitkom survey in Germany found that 62% of online shoppers would rather communicate with a human when they encounter a problem, while only 36% would opt for a chatbot.

Additionally, customer satisfaction with online shopping services is significantly higher in human interactions (86%) compared to chatbots (50%). This stark contrast demonstrates that when it truly matters, customers value speaking to a person. The moment of genuine human contact is where value is created and lost, making it the most crucial aspect of customer service.

Market data supports this conclusion. Gartner's 2025 forecasts predict that by 2028, none of the Fortune 500 companies will have fully eliminated human customer service representatives. Furthermore, half of the companies planning significant AI-driven workforce reductions in service are expected to abandon those plans by 2027. AI should be used as a complement to human capabilities, allowing them to focus on tasks that require empathy, understanding, and creativity.

Service agents' days are often filled with non-customer-facing tasks, such as searching for information across systems, summarizing past interactions, and drafting repetitive messages. AI can automate these repetitive tasks, freeing up agents to focus on what truly matters: listening to customers, understanding their needs, de-escalating situations, providing informed advice, and offering tailored solutions.

This shift allows agents to build better relationships with customers, creating a sense of being known and understood—a feeling that has significant commercial benefits. By transforming customer care from a mere queue-clearing function to a meaningful conversation, companies can move toward creating value in areas such as retention, advice, customer experience, and ultimately, revenue.

Customer care is no longer a cost center to be minimized but a growth engine that can drive loyalty, enhance brand perception, and stimulate growth. Implementing AI effectively in customer care requires a strong foundation: clean data, clear workflows, proper prompting, defined ownership, and a clear understanding of the business value creation points.

While technology alone is not the challenge, organizational structure and trust are. In Europe, deploying AI in customer contact must comply with GDPR and the EU AI Act. Although AI is not automatically classified as high-risk, transparency, data minimization, clear governance, and human oversight remain essential. Handling AI well in customer service is not just about ticking compliance boxes; it is about fostering customer and employee acceptance of AI.

The ultimate takeaway is that customer care does not matter less in the age of AI; it matters differently. The companies that will lead in the coming years will be those that understand precisely when AI can assist and when a well-trained, well-supported human is indispensable.