John Henry still leading the race vs. AI in customer service
(2025/12/03)
- Reference: 1764801015
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/12/03/john_henry_ai_customer_service/
- Source link:
The world’s smallest digital violin is playing for AI chatbots, which are having a hard time elbowing out their human counterparts for jobs in customer service, according to a Gartner study.
Researchers found that only 20 percent of customer service and support leaders reported reducing agent staffing to favor our would-be robot overlords.
“Customer service and support leaders should avoid framing AI initiatives solely around headcount reduction,” said Melissa Fletcher, senior principal of research in the [1]Gartner Customer Service Support practice. “Leaders should plan for new roles, leverage central resources, and communicate transparently about AI’s impact to manage expectations effectively.”
[2]
Meanwhile, 42 percent of organizations are hiring for newly created jobs for humans that incorporate AI into their workflow.
[3]
[4]
“Although conversations about AI in customer service tend to focus on AI’s role in headcount reduction, many leaders (42%) have found themselves hiring specialized staff to help with their AI initiatives,” the researchers found. “These roles may include AI strategists, Agent assist analysts, AI automations and process analysts, conversational AI designers, and AI analysts and Trainers.”
For its paper, [5]The Real Impact of AI on Headcount Today , Gartner surveyed 321 customer service and support leaders from September to October. They found that 55 percent of those businesses held on to the same number of employees while handling higher customer volumes. The authors said this shows AI is boosting efficiency rather than eliminating jobs.
[6]
There was some less celebratory human-centric news in the report, as researchers found that 25 percent of organizations paused hiring replacements when customer service agents left.
Gartner estimates that half of the organizations planning for major AI-driven workforce reductions will be forced to reconsider those goals by 2027, as “the vision of agentless service” will prove “elusive.”
“While there are some use cases that have the potential to displace enough volume to provide reductions in headcount (e.g., chatbots or IVAs), these require a level of readiness that many organizations simply do not have. Additionally, leaders should articulate that these changes will be incremental,” the researchers stated.
[7]
Gartner’s findings jibe with other recent reports, including an October report out of [8]Yale’s Budget Lab that looked at US employment since November 2022, when OpenAI's ChatGPT was released and began generating AI hype.
"Overall, our metrics indicate that the broader labor market has not experienced a discernible disruption since ChatGPT’s release 33 months ago, undercutting fears that AI automation is currently eroding the demand for cognitive labor across the economy," said Martha Gimbel, Molly Kinder, Joshua Kendall, and Maddie Lee in a [9]report summary .
[10]One-fifth of the jobs at your company could disappear as AI automation takes off
[11]Half of businesses rethink ditching humans for customer service bots
[12]Call center staffers explain to researchers how their AI assistants aren't very helpful
[13]Your call is very important to us – which is why we're connecting you to a human
But the good times for humans may not last.
[14]A recent BearingPoint Study that surveyed 1,000 executives found that AI and automation led half of those companies to believe they were overstaffed by as much as 19 percent.
According to the study, AI is expected to drive a sharp increase in workforce overcapacity by 2028 as productivity gains accelerate, "leading to a sustained reduction in demand for multiple profiles."
Within three years, all of the companies surveyed forecast at least 10 percent overcapacity, and 45 percent expect to manage 30 to 50 percent excess capacity, the report said. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-12-02-gartner-survey-finds-only-20-percent-of-customer-service-leaders-report-ai-driven-headcount-reduction
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.gartner.com/document-reader/document/7206430
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/evaluating-impact-ai-labor-market-current-state-affairs
[9] https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/evaluating-impact-ai-labor-market-current-state-affairs
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/ai_employee_overcapacity_report/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/11/gartner_ai_customer_service/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/02/call_center_ai_assistants/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/12/gartner_support_ai/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/ai_employee_overcapacity_report/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Researchers found that only 20 percent of customer service and support leaders reported reducing agent staffing to favor our would-be robot overlords.
“Customer service and support leaders should avoid framing AI initiatives solely around headcount reduction,” said Melissa Fletcher, senior principal of research in the [1]Gartner Customer Service Support practice. “Leaders should plan for new roles, leverage central resources, and communicate transparently about AI’s impact to manage expectations effectively.”
[2]
Meanwhile, 42 percent of organizations are hiring for newly created jobs for humans that incorporate AI into their workflow.
[3]
[4]
“Although conversations about AI in customer service tend to focus on AI’s role in headcount reduction, many leaders (42%) have found themselves hiring specialized staff to help with their AI initiatives,” the researchers found. “These roles may include AI strategists, Agent assist analysts, AI automations and process analysts, conversational AI designers, and AI analysts and Trainers.”
For its paper, [5]The Real Impact of AI on Headcount Today , Gartner surveyed 321 customer service and support leaders from September to October. They found that 55 percent of those businesses held on to the same number of employees while handling higher customer volumes. The authors said this shows AI is boosting efficiency rather than eliminating jobs.
[6]
There was some less celebratory human-centric news in the report, as researchers found that 25 percent of organizations paused hiring replacements when customer service agents left.
Gartner estimates that half of the organizations planning for major AI-driven workforce reductions will be forced to reconsider those goals by 2027, as “the vision of agentless service” will prove “elusive.”
“While there are some use cases that have the potential to displace enough volume to provide reductions in headcount (e.g., chatbots or IVAs), these require a level of readiness that many organizations simply do not have. Additionally, leaders should articulate that these changes will be incremental,” the researchers stated.
[7]
Gartner’s findings jibe with other recent reports, including an October report out of [8]Yale’s Budget Lab that looked at US employment since November 2022, when OpenAI's ChatGPT was released and began generating AI hype.
"Overall, our metrics indicate that the broader labor market has not experienced a discernible disruption since ChatGPT’s release 33 months ago, undercutting fears that AI automation is currently eroding the demand for cognitive labor across the economy," said Martha Gimbel, Molly Kinder, Joshua Kendall, and Maddie Lee in a [9]report summary .
[10]One-fifth of the jobs at your company could disappear as AI automation takes off
[11]Half of businesses rethink ditching humans for customer service bots
[12]Call center staffers explain to researchers how their AI assistants aren't very helpful
[13]Your call is very important to us – which is why we're connecting you to a human
But the good times for humans may not last.
[14]A recent BearingPoint Study that surveyed 1,000 executives found that AI and automation led half of those companies to believe they were overstaffed by as much as 19 percent.
According to the study, AI is expected to drive a sharp increase in workforce overcapacity by 2028 as productivity gains accelerate, "leading to a sustained reduction in demand for multiple profiles."
Within three years, all of the companies surveyed forecast at least 10 percent overcapacity, and 45 percent expect to manage 30 to 50 percent excess capacity, the report said. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-12-02-gartner-survey-finds-only-20-percent-of-customer-service-leaders-report-ai-driven-headcount-reduction
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.gartner.com/document-reader/document/7206430
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aTDBBjnNocGx8l5NdhdgbgAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/evaluating-impact-ai-labor-market-current-state-affairs
[9] https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/evaluating-impact-ai-labor-market-current-state-affairs
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/ai_employee_overcapacity_report/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/11/gartner_ai_customer_service/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/02/call_center_ai_assistants/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/12/gartner_support_ai/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/27/ai_employee_overcapacity_report/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
"the same number of employees while handling higher customer volumes"
Are these more individual customers or the same customers calling multiple times trying to get a sensible answer?
OTOH it may be that customers are getting fatter.