Nearly 8 in 10 Singapore consumers ditch AI agents when bots fail to recognise them

SINGAPORE: Nearly eight in 10 (78%) Singapore consumers ditched artificial intelligence (AI) customer service agents when the bots failed to recognise them. Respondents to the Twilio survey, cited by Singapore Business Review, said they abandoned their interactions with the bots because they lacked basic information about them.

When the interaction with the AI agents fell short, 34% switched to a human agent, 18% gave up on the interaction altogether, 21% continued despite the friction, and 5% disengaged from the brand entirely.

Also, when interactions get handed over to human agents, only 38% carried over “some context”. Still, 64% said the human agent knew at least something about their earlier conversation.

Notably, only 17% of respondents surveyed felt their AI agents were “very effective” at recognising returning customers and accessing their history. This was well below Asia-Pacific leaders.

A majority of respondents (67%) said brands should be upfront about using AI agents for customer service. The same percentage of Singaporeans said they would be more comfortable with AI agents if they had the option to switch to a human agent, while 54% said they would feel more comfortable knowing that the bot requires human approval before taking action.

Singaporean consumers estimate that AI currently handles 49% of customer service interactions, a share they expect to rise to 59% by next year.

While 70% said AI bots have improved over the past year, only 47% said they were more likely to choose a bot over a human than they were a year ago. /TISG

Read also: 7 in 10 Singapore workers frustrated with AI despite optimism for its potential, study finds