I used to be duped by an AI customer support bot and I hate it

“Hey, it’s Theo,” mentioned the pleasant textual content message from the restaurant I’d simply booked on Resy. “Trying ahead to having you in tomorrow. Any dietary restrictions or allergy symptoms for the kitchen, and are we celebrating something particular this go to?”

What a pleasant textual content, I naively thought, as I gamely replied we had been coming in for Mom’s Day. It felt good that somebody from the restaurant had personally reached out, so I needed to reciprocate.

We went forwards and backwards for a pair extra rounds, with me noting which of the restaurant’s areas we’d be visiting for our celebratory brunch. However then the bubble burst—and I felt like an fool. “Would you want me to avoid wasting that it’s Mom’s Day to your future visits too, or simply for this one?” the instantly robotic-sounding rep requested.

Oh, duh! I’m chatting with AI.

I ought to’ve recognized higher. Increasingly companies are utilizing AI for customer support, with one October 2025 survey estimating that half of small companies within the US make use of AI to “elevate” their customer support operations. I’m certain that determine is way greater by now.

To be truthful, AI customer support reps might be efficient for easy duties, equivalent to scheduling appointments. If an AI might help me e-book an appointment or reschedule one which fell by way of, I’m all for it.

My downside, although, is when an AI consultant doesn’t outright say it’s AI, or received’t come clean with it when requested. And even when an AI rep does admit to it, it’s the not realizing within the first place that makes me really feel like a chump—and I develop suspicious of the corporate I’m coping with.

For instance, one in all my medical suppliers fairly clearly makes use of AI for its customer support calls. (Or no less than it turned clear on reflection, when the telephone responses got here too shortly and the tone of the bot began sounding rote.) The AI did keep in its lane, dealing with solely appointment scheduling and passing on prescriptions and different medical points to a flesh-and-blood individual. However I used to be aggravated and delay that the AI didn’t establish itself as AI from the get-go.

My interactions with the medical workplace AI bot didn’t hassle me as a lot as my alternate with “Theo,” the restaurant AI. By giving itself a reputation however neglecting to reveal that it was a bot, Theo—and by extension the restaurant itself—made me really feel like I’d been duped. Did I freak out and cancel my reservation? Nicely, no. (Mom’s Day brunch is a troublesome get in New York Metropolis.) However the stealth AI chat didn’t give me heat fuzzies in regards to the restaurant both.

To enterprise house owners utilizing AI for customer support: I get it. Utilizing AI for customer support calls should be one of many best methods to chop prices (even when it’s not enjoyable for the human reps shedding their jobs). However in case you are going to reply telephones or ship texts with AI bots, be certain that they establish themselves as AI up entrance. In any other case, you’ll be saving cash on the expense of buyer belief—and belief is priceless.