When should we use an AI agent for first-line support?

The question now comes up in almost every customer service project. The answer is rarely yes or no; rather, it depends on the types of enquiries and the conditions involved.

Where agents work well

Questions with one correct answer, high volume, and low emotional intensity. Opening hours, order status, how to reset a password. Here, the agent is both faster than a human and available at night, and the customer experiences it as service rather than rejection.

Where they should be kept away

Complaints, cancellations, anything involving money the customer believes they are owed, and any situation where the customer is already dissatisfied. An agent who handles a complaint poorly does more damage than no response would.

The two prerequisites

The agent must have a knowledge source to draw its answers from—without up-to-date knowledge articles, it will make things up or fail to respond. It must also be able to hand over to a human without making the customer start over. If either of these is missing, you are not ready, no matter how good the model is.

Start small with three to five question types whose volume you know, and measure how often the conversation needs to be handed over. That figure will tell you when you can expand.