Why the Human Connection Still Matters in the Age of AI

I've written several articles about the fact that AI is rapidly transforming customer service. In my view, one truth remains unchanged: people still want to connect with people. Despite the rise of automation, chatbots, and virtual AI agents, the human connection is not just a ‘nice-to-have’—it’s the foundation of trust, accountability, and real customer experience.

In my work leading intelligent automation efforts, I’ve seen the power of AI firsthand. It’s freeing up time, streamlining repetitive tasks, and making organizations more efficient. AI is especially good at eliminating unconstructive effort—those tedious, manual interactions that add friction to the customer journey. That’s where AI shines.

Living up to the promise to our customer isn’t about the bot

But the more capable AI becomes, the more critical it is to define where its role ends and where the human touch must begin. Customers don’t just want a solution—they want to feel understood. They want to know someone truly cares about resolving their issue, especially when something goes wrong. That emotional reassurance, that personal ownership, is something that’s hard to earnestly replicate with an algorithm, despite some recent successes in AI ‘feigning’ empathy.

This is why we measure CSAT as one of our most important KPIs. After every phone call, customers rate their experience—not just on whether the problem was solved, but on how they experienced it. It’s a human-centric metric, and one that tells us if we’re really living up to our promise of being there for the customer.

I believe the future of AI in customer experience isn’t about replacing humans. It’s about augmenting them. Picture this very real and imminent scenario: a customer hears “Excuse me,” coming from their preferred device, after acknowledging they hear their CoPilot, for example SAP #Joule, telling them that their system is running low on memory. The AI offers to resolve it automatically—and does. That’s a huge win. But when something unexpected happens? The memory-uplift fails, the performance of their digital front-end is about to fail, then the customer still wants the comfort of a real voice on the line. Someone who can walk them through the issue, answer their concerns, and be accountable.

Setting the balance

This balance is delicate—and real. A leading global payment provider recently automated almost their entire support function, only to roll back and rehire support staff within months due to customer dissatisfaction. Why? Because customers were unsatisfied with the AI agents. A recent experiment showed that humans couldn’t detect if they were talking to a human or an AI in a voice interaction, so it’s not the quality of the AI. But conversely, when customers are speaking to a human, but think they’re talking to an AI, they sometimes become more cautious, less trusting. The absence of a clear human presence creates unease.

That’s why, as leaders, we need to take responsibility not just for delivering efficiency, but for protecting what makes our service human. We must design our AI use cases with empathy and transparency. That means setting clear boundaries, investing in AI governance, and building in fail-safes where a human can step in when needed.

It also means infusing that mindset into every project. When we introduce AI, we’re not just deploying a tool—we’re shaping a new type of interaction. And if we do it right, we can use AI to strengthen the human connection, not erode it. For example, freeing up human agents from repetitive tasks allows them to focus on high-value conversations—those that require nuance, care, and emotional intelligence.

Human <> AI Synergy

This is the real future of intelligent automation: one where AI acts as a digital partner to both the customer and the support agent. One where the technology disappears into the background, enabling smoother, faster, more intuitive service—without sacrificing humanity along the way when it matters most.

Ultimately, what customers remember isn’t the workflow or the chatbot—it’s how we made them feel. Did they feel heard? Did they feel respected? Did they feel like someone was truly accountable to resolve their issue?

That’s why the human connection will always matter. In fact-paradoxically-in the age of AI, it matters more than ever.