A popular story in customer experience circles goes like this: customers are fed up with AI, and the smart move is to put people back on every channel.
The 2026 data tells a more useful story. According to Alchemer’s 2026 AI & Customer Expectations Report, only 17% of consumers say they don’t want AI involved in their customer experience at all. Most of the rest have specific work in mind for it. Customers don’t want less AI. They want AI that does its job and a person within reach.
TL;DR — key takeaways
- Only 17% of consumers don’t want AI involved in their customer experience, according to Alchemer’s 2026 AI & Customer Expectations Report.
- The top requests are faster issue resolution (38%), faster responses (34%) and better understanding of their needs (29%).
- 89% still say AI has hurt their experience in some way, so the issue is execution.
- 43% would pay more for guaranteed human support. Customers want a division of labor, not a replacement.
- The complaints are classic service failures, not objections to the technology.
Do customers want AI involved in customer service?
Most do, for specific jobs. Just 17% say they want no AI in their customer experience. According to Alchemer’s research, customers can name what they’d like AI to improve, and the answers cluster around speed and understanding.
| What consumers most want AI to improve | % of consumers |
|---|---|
| Faster resolution of issues | 37.9% |
| Faster responses | 33.5% |
| Better understanding of your needs | 28.8% |
| Easier access to information | 24.3% |
| Less need to repeat information | 23.7% |
| More relevant or personalized experiences | 23.7% |
| I don’t want AI involved | 16.5% |
If customers want AI, why do 89% say it hurt their experience?
Because both can be true. Customers can welcome faster answers and still resent a system that traps them. Look at the complaints behind the 89%: difficulty reaching a person (44.0%), responses that miss the question (37.3%), impersonal replies (31.7%) and repeated information (29.7%).
Those are service failures. They’d frustrate customers if a human team caused them. AI just makes them faster and harder to escape. Fix the execution and the same technology becomes the thing customers asked for.
What do customers want AI to do?
The study draws a clear line. Let AI handle the analysis, the feedback routing and the always-on responses. Keep a person reachable when one is needed.
That split mirrors what customers rank highest. Resolution and speed are work AI can do around the clock. Understanding, personalization and information access depend on connecting data and recognizing intent. Customers also want to hear what happened after they give feedback, and that follow-through needs both automation and ownership.
Notice what ranks lower. Only 17.9% name easier access to a person as a top improvement, well behind speed and resolution. Customers aren’t asking to swap AI for people. They want people available for the moments that need empathy, judgment or accountability.
The right AI for each job. Alchemer Iris uses techniques purpose-built for feedback data, detecting themes and intent in real customer language, including the mixed feedback buried inside a single response. Join the Alchemer Iris waitlist →
Is understanding the same as personalization?
No, and treating them as one is a common mistake. Better understanding of needs ranks third at 28.8%. More relevant or personalized experiences sits close behind at 23.7%.
Understanding means recognizing the customer’s intent and answering the question in front of you. Personalization uses previous data or behavior to tailor the experience. Understanding comes first, because a personalized answer that misses the customer’s actual need is still a poor answer.
What should companies do about the myth?
Stop debating whether to use AI and start auditing how it performs. Review misunderstood requests. Test how well your system recognizes intent. Set confidence thresholds that move the customer to a person when the system is unsure.
Then price the human path correctly. With 43% willing to pay more for guaranteed human support, access to a person has measurable value. It’s a feature customers will choose a company for, not a cost center to minimize.
Roadmaps should follow the demand. Customers asked for faster resolution, faster responses, better understanding, easier access to information and less repetition. A roadmap built around those jobs will land closer to what customers value than one built around the newest capability. Ask of every new AI feature: which of these does it improve, and how will we know?
Want the full report? Read the complete 2026 AI & Customer Expectations Report for every breakdown, the full list of improvements customers want and five practical priorities for CX leaders.
Methodology: Alchemer’s Research Solutions team surveyed 2,009 U.S. consumers for the 2026 AI & Customer Expectations Study.
FAQ
Q: Do consumers want AI in customer service?
A: Most do for specific jobs. Only 17% say they don’t want AI involved at all, according to Alchemer’s 2026 AI & Customer Expectations Report.
Q: What do customers want AI to improve most?
A: Faster issue resolution (37.9%), faster responses (33.5%) and better understanding of their needs (28.8%).
Q: Why do customers report negative AI experiences?
A: Mostly service failures: difficulty reaching a person (44.0%), responses that miss the question (37.3%), impersonal replies (31.7%) and having to repeat information (29.7%).
Q: What is the difference between understanding and personalization?
A: Understanding means recognizing a customer’s intent and answering the question asked. Personalization uses past data or behavior to tailor the experience. Understanding has to come first.