A new report from Gartner suggests that customer service leaders may need to fundamentally rethink their automation strategies.
According to a survey of 3,566 B2B and B2C customers conducted in early 2026, consumers are now approximately three times more likely to turn to third-party Generative AI (GenAI) tools than to use a company’s own provided chatbot to resolve service issues.
While the use of third-party GenAI tools for support has nearly doubled over the last year, adoption of company-owned chatbots has remained largely stagnant since 2022. This trend suggests that customers are increasingly bypassing traditional brand channels in favor of external AI assistants.
Eric Keller, Sr Director Analyst in the Gartner Customer Service & Support Practice, said:
Eric Keller, Sr Director Analyst, Customer Service & Support Practice, Gartner
“Customers are embracing GenAI in both life and work, but so far, that has not translated into growth in the use of company-provided customer service chatbots. Instead, GenAI is shifting some service interactions outside of company-owned channels.”
The ROI Gap in AI Investment
The report points to a growing disconnect between corporate spending and actual financial returns. A separate Gartner study of over 1,300 senior leaders found that service and support departments allocated a median of 12% of their 2025 budgets to AI—the highest investment level across all business functions. Despite this, only 24% of these leaders reported seeing positive financial returns on their AI initiatives.
Keller suggests the issue isn’t the tech itself, but how it is being deployed:
“The disappointing impact of customer-facing GenAI investments has less to do with technology limitations and more to do with misalignment with customer expectations. Rather than investing primarily in standalone chatbots, organizations should focus on AI-enabled service journeys that help customers resolve issues across digital and voice channels.”
From Answers to Actions
The data also reveals that the FAQ-style chatbot is no longer sufficient. Customers are now using GenAI to execute tasks rather than just retrieve information. According to the survey, 58% of GenAI users have used the technology to complete a task on their behalf, a figure that jumps to 74% in B2B environments.
Keller explained:
“Many company-provided chatbots are still designed primarily to answer questions, but customers increasingly expect AI to help them take action, such as booking an appointment, submitting documents or updating their account. Service and support leaders should redesign digital support around conversational, action-oriented experiences, rather than treating GenAI as a standalone chatbot.”
Furthermore, the research emphasizes that as AI becomes more prevalent, the human element remains a critical safety net. Customers still expect the option to transition to a human agent when AI-driven service is in play.
The Rise of Shadow CX
For the CX industry, this is a wake-up call that the walled garden approach to customer service is crumbling. If brands cannot provide AI tools that are as capable, action-oriented, and frictionless as the general-purpose LLMs customers use in their daily lives, they risk losing visibility into customer data and sentiment altogether.
The future of CX will likely depend on interoperability—ensuring that brand data can be securely accessed by third-party AI agents—and a pivot from deflection-first chatbots to resolution-first intelligent assistants that can actually execute complex workflows.
