A recent Gartner report cuts through the hype: half of all companies that planned to significantly reduce their customer service workforce with AI will abandon those plans by 2027.

That’s a big shift—and it’s a necessary one.

AI has been oversold as a silver bullet for customer service. The dream of a fully automated, “agentless” contact center may be appealing on a spreadsheet, but the reality is far more complicated. As companies push forward with AI implementation, they’re discovering what frontline leaders have known all along: customer service is more than a series of transactions. It’s human, nuanced, and built on empathy and trust.

Trying to remove people from the equation doesn’t just lead to worse experiences—it erodes customer confidence and damages your brand.

So now what?

The most forward-thinking service leaders aren’t giving up on AI. They’re changing how they use it. Instead of trying to eliminate the human element, they’re using AI to enhance it. They’re adopting agent augmentation tools that help customer service teams perform better—without taking the wheel away entirely.

These tools offer real-time guidance, automate repetitive steps, surface relevant information at just the right moment, and allow agents to focus more on the customer and less on the process. The goal isn’t to replace the agent. It’s to remove the friction that keeps them from doing their best work.

This shift toward augmentation over automation reflects a broader truth: the best customer experiences are still powered by people. AI can—and should—play a role in making those people more capable, more confident, and more supported in their roles.

The future isn’t agentless. It’s agent-empowered.

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