The rise of AI in customer experience isn’t just a trend—it’s a tidal shift. Gartner predicts that by 2029, 80% of customer problems will be solved without human help. Chatbots, self-service portals, and automation are reshaping the landscape, bringing speed and efficiency like never before. But efficiency alone doesn’t make for a great customer experience. AI solves problems, but humans build trust. And trust is what keeps customers coming back.
At the same time, another shift is happening—traditional customer service channels are losing ground to AI-driven solutions. Another useful article by Gartner highlights how mobile and AI innovations are pulling customers away from your support team and towards 3rd party support like Youtube or Reddit.
Your customers are doing this because they want answers “Now!”, not in 3 or 4 hours. Customers are doing this more and more because their faith is growing continually in AI and its ability to process the whole of the internet and reply instantly with concise answers.
One advantage your team will always have over third-party support solutions is exactly that—your team; your humans. YouTube tutorials and online forums can be helpful, but they will never be as authoritative on your product as the people who build and support it.
The future of CX isn’t a machine-driven world where humans disappear behind lines of code. Instead, it’s a partnership—a balance where AI handles the repetitive and predictable, while humans bring empathy, nuance, and a sense of care that no algorithm can replicate. The companies that master this balance will not only meet expectations but exceed them, crafting experiences that feel both seamless and deeply personal.
AI solves problems, but humans build trust—great CX needs both.
Why AI-Only Solutions Fail the Customer
Regarding AI, I also believe it’s a tool that I need to not only understand but learn how to master. It’s not a competitor to me and my role as a CX leader; it’s the fanciest new machine in my tool shed. Many have said it, and I agree: AI won’t replace you; but those who use AI to do your job better will.
But AI is not all-knowing or perfect by any means. It can be lightning-fast, but it stumbles where it matters most: empathy.
AI lacks the heartbeat of human connection, the ability to truly listen beyond words, to sense frustration in the space between sentences. It can generate responses, but it doesn’t understand emotions the way a human does. When a customer reaches out in frustration, AI can recognize the sentiment, but it can’t offer the reassurance of a steady voice or the understanding of someone who has been there before.
Part of the reason why this is so true might surprise you: humans can sense others’ feelings better than they can explain their own. There’s this great study that compared the emotional responses between the best and worst ranking Super Bowl commercials and how “Groove”, the worst voted ad, actually provoked a lot more emotional responses and even increased sales better than most other positively voted ads.
Customers are willing to engage with AI, but only when they know a real person is also within reach. Without that safety net, AI interactions can feel cold, impersonal, and frustrating. AI is a tool, not a replacement. It can guide the way, but humans are the ones who make the journey worthwhile.
The AI/Human Hybrid Approach: The Future of CX
The best customer experiences aren’t about choosing between AI and humans; they’re about knowing when and how to use each. AI is the first line of defense, answering simple questions in an instant and cutting response times dramatically. But when the situation calls for more than efficiency—when it calls for empathy, creativity, or deep expertise—humans step in, bringing the kind of care that technology simply can’t replicate.
AI is the wide net, casting far and fast, gathering the common questions, the predictable problems, the issues that have been solved before. But a net alone isn’t enough. Humans are the fine-tuned specialists, the ones who sift through what AI catches, applying experience, judgment, and empathy to the edge cases, the outliers, the moments that require more than an automated answer. AI solves problems, but humans build trust. And trust is the foundation of every lasting relationship.
AI solves problems, but humans build trust—great CX needs both.
Implementing AI/Human Hybrid CX Across the Customer Journey
This delicate balance isn’t just theoretical—it’s practical, and it plays out across every stage of the customer journey.
When it comes to knowledge bases, AI can analyze trends, suggesting which topics need more attention or which answers customers search for most. It can even generate rough drafts of articles, pulling from past support tickets and documentation. But a knowledge base isn’t just about information—it’s about clarity, authority, and reliability. That’s where humans come in, refining AI’s suggestions, ensuring accuracy, and adding the expertise that only lived experience can provide. Customers will always have access to third-party resources like forums and video tutorials, but no external source will ever match the precision and credibility of a well-maintained, AI-augmented, human-authored knowledge base.
In customer support, AI-powered chatbots are invaluable for handling routine inquiries. They can answer common questions, pull up relevant documentation, and even suggest solutions before a human ever steps in. But customers don’t just want solutions—they want to feel heard. When an issue becomes complex or emotionally charged, it’s human agents who step in, reading between the lines, offering reassurance, and making judgment calls that AI simply isn’t equipped for.
Onboarding is another area where AI and humans work best together. AI can guide new users through interactive tutorials, provide instant troubleshooting, and ensure consistency in training materials. But true onboarding isn’t just about teaching—it’s about welcoming. A well-timed email from a real person, a proactive check-in, or a tailored piece of advice from someone who understands the customer’s unique needs can turn a cold start into a warm, engaging experience.
And then there’s customer feedback—the pulse of every product business. AI can sift through thousands of survey responses, identifying trends and similarities, highlighting sentiment shifts, and surfacing the insights that might otherwise be missed. But highlights alone don’t create change; that requires human action. When feedback points to a friction point in the experience, it’s humans who intuit how to resolve it, who reach out to dissatisfied customers and turn criticism into opportunity for connection and loyalty.
The Business Case for AI/Human Hybrid CX
This isn’t just a feel-good approach—it’s a smart one. Businesses that master the AI/human balance gain speed without sacrificing quality. AI brings efficiency, cutting response times and handling volume at scale. But humans bring the heart, the creativity, and the trust that keeps customers loyal.
This approach doesn’t just benefit customers—it benefits employees, too. AI handles the repetitive, freeing support teams from answering the same basic questions over and over. That means human agents can focus on the cases that require critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and creative problem-solving. The result? Happier customers, more engaged employees, and a CX strategy that doesn’t just function—it flourishes.
At StellarWP, I’ve been excited to work with Aaron Edwards and his Docsbot tool. It’s been a game-changer for how we spot weaknesses in our online documentation. Our teams are now monitoring live customer questions and can either improve our docs or create internal FAQs to improve future bot responses. The Events Calendar, for example, has increased it’s “Resolution Rate” from the low 50’s to now almost 80%.
But we’ve only been able to do that specifically because of the human-AI hybrid approach. An AI chatbot isn’t a “set it and forget it” situation. For it to be a reliable and useful tool to your customers, you need to monitor it and constantly be improving it. This has long-term implications for what the day-to-day role of all our technicians is. I foresee a time in the near future where our agents only spend 50% of their time answer support inquiries directly; while the other 50% of the time is spent monitoring the bot responses and improving online documentation.
AI is a game-changer, but it works best when paired with human insight. The companies that will thrive in this new era aren’t the ones that replace people with machines, nor the ones that reject AI entirely. They’ll be the ones that know how to fuse the speed and intelligence of AI with the warmth, creativity, and emotional depth of human connection.
The future of CX isn’t AI or humans—it’s both, working together to create experiences that are fast yet thoughtful, efficient yet empathetic. AI solves problems, but humans build trust. And in customer experience, trust is everything.
