The Positive
87% of consumers report neutral or positive chatbot experiences. Up meaningfully from 2023 lows. Quality improvements in natural language and tool use drive the change. Chatbot fatigue from the 2023 wave has settled.
The Caveats
Nearly 1 in 5 consumers who used AI for customer service saw no benefit. For these users, AI added friction instead of reducing it — longer time to resolution, missed context, failed escalations.
Where Negative Sentiment Concentrates
Complex issues requiring multi-turn reasoning. Edge-case problems not in the AI’s training. Users who prefer human interaction regardless. Moments when AI confidently makes wrong claims.
Design Implications
Easy escape to human agent. Transparent acknowledgment when AI can’t help. No pretending to be human when users ask. Proactive escalation on clear signals of frustration. Failure modes matter more than happy path.