The world\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Researchers found that only 20 percent of customer service and support leaders reported reducing agent staffing to favor our would-be robot overlords.<\/p>\n
\u201cCustomer service and support leaders should avoid framing AI initiatives solely around headcount reduction,\u201d said Melissa Fletcher, senior principal of research in the Gartner Customer Service Support practice.<\/a> \u201cLeaders should plan for new roles, leverage central resources, and communicate transparently about AI\u2019s impact to manage expectations effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, 42 percent of organizations are hiring for newly created jobs for humans that incorporate AI into their workflow.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough conversations about AI in customer service tend to focus on AI\u2019s role in headcount reduction, many leaders (42%) have found themselves hiring specialized staff to help with their AI initiatives,\u201d the researchers found. \u201cThese roles may include AI strategists, Agent assist analysts, AI automations and process analysts, conversational AI designers, and AI analysts and Trainers.\u201d<\/p>\n For its paper, The Real Impact of AI on Headcount Today<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Gartner estimates that half of the organizations planning for major AI-driven workforce reductions will be forced to reconsider those goals by 2027, as \u201cthe vision of agentless service\u201d will prove \u201celusive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile 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,\u201d the researchers stated.<\/p>\n Gartner\u2019s findings jibe with other recent reports, including an October report out of Yale\u2019s Budget Lab<\/a> that looked at US employment since November 2022, when OpenAI’s ChatGPT was released and began generating AI hype.<\/p>\n “Overall, our metrics indicate that the broader labor market has not experienced a discernible disruption since ChatGPT\u2019s 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 report summary<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the good times for humans may not last.<\/p>\n