What a day in customer service looks like — as AI changes everything

Maskot | Digitalvision | Getty ImagesFor Kaylee Harris, who works in customer service for a credit card company, a day at work now looks very different. Her hours used to be filled with calls, note-taking and lengthy card disclosures. Now, thanks to artificial intelligence, she can focus more on each customer, Harris told CNBC.For Shannon, AI has also changed things — but not in a good way. She works in customer service for a telecommunications company in Cardiff, Wales, and did not want to share her surname for fear of being identified by her employer. She told CNBC that AI-generated notes at her current workplace are often riddled with errors, "so I just write my own."At her previous employer, a property services company, senior management told staff to "ChatGPT it" if they didn't know the answer. AI agents booked appointments, but when they couldn't offer a customer the requested date, they passed the case to a human. Staff were "constantly fighting fires," Shannon said. "All the complicated cases came to us, causing a lot of burnout."Good for both employees and customers? In theory, automation in customer service should mean human agents spend less time on admin and more time h...