AI Chatbots Are Everywhere — So Why Are Many Customers Still Annoyed? – BusinessToday Malaysia
The following opinion piece is contributed by Dr Omkar Dastane, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, School of Business, Monash University Malaysia
Open any banking app, telco website or e-commerce portal today and you’re instantly greeted by the same pixel-perfect greeter: An artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, bubbling with enthusiasm and ready to “assist you”. For businesses, these bots have become the new frontline workers, always alert, always fast and never asking for a lunch break. Companies are celebrating them as symbols of modern efficiency, a sign that customer service has finally stepped into the future.
But customers are telling a different story.
Although businesses admire the promise of automation, many users say the experience feels more like being stuck in a loop of robotic niceties. People are discovering that having a chatbot doesn’t automatically make service better, and the difference between a bot user returning to and one they abandon quickly comes down to something far more human than expected.
Personalisation: The Secret Ingredient Customers Actually Care About
One pattern is becoming unmistakable: when chatbots feel personal, people stay. When they don’t, frustration hits quickly. Consumers say the best chatbots are those that understand context, that remember past issues, adapt responses and offer suggestions that are actually useful. It’s not the flashiest feature, but it’s the one that earns trust. A bot that can recommend the right phone plan, help pick a product or guide a user through a tricky issue creates a sense of competence that no friendly emoji can replace. And recommendations aren’t just helpful, they’re becoming the strongest reason customers keep using these tools. People want guidance, not generic textbook answers.
Why Speed Alone Is No Longer Impressive
For years, tech companies promoted chatbot speed like it was magic, instant answers! No waiting! But customers have grown used to instant replies in nearly every corner of digital life. Fast responses now feel less like a miracle and more like a basic expectation. What matters is whether the bot says something meaningful in those fast replies. If it responds instantly but misses the point, the speed becomes a frustration amplifier. Customers today aren’t dazzled by speed; they’re demanding accuracy, clarity and relevance.
When Fake Empathy Makes Things Worse
Perhaps the most surprising twist in the rise of AI chatbots is this: trying to make them sound emotional is backfiring. Many companies have instructed bots to offer warm apologies, comforting phrases and cheerful encouragement. Yet, users report that these attempts at “empathy” often make things feel awkward. People can tell when a machine is pretending to care, and the mismatch between human emotion and robotic delivery creates discomfort rather than connection. Instead of building trust, scripted empathy can make the entire interaction feel staged, like a performance rather than a genuine attempt to help.
Widespread Frustration Is Becoming Hard to Ignore
Across industries, dissatisfaction with chatbots is rising. Customers frequently describe getting stuck in endless loops of irrelevant answers, being misinterpreted by keyword-driven responses or struggling to reach a human when the bot fails. Travellers trying to rebook disrupted flights, parents disputing unexpected charges, or shoppers chasing delayed deliveries often hit the same wall: An AI
assistant that insists it understands but clearly does not. Many users report giving up on chatbots entirely for anything involving money, urgency or nuance. And despite massive corporate investment in AI automation, a growing number of consumers say they still prefer human agents for real decision-making.
Businesses Are Learning That “Human-Like” Isn’t the Goal: “Helpful” Is
Businesses should begin to recognise that the real challenge is not making chatbots sound more human but making them genuinely more helpful. The companies that are improving customer satisfaction today are doing so by prioritising clarity, accuracy and personal relevance rather than relying on emotional scripts. Instead of teaching bots to imitate empathy, they are focusing on refining how well the system understands user intent, how precisely it responds to context and how seamlessly it hands over to a human when the situation requires it. This shift reflects an important lesson: Customers trust AI not when it pretends to care, but when it consistently delivers meaningful, problem-solving support.
A Smarter, More Human-Centric Future
AI will unquestionably remain a staple of customer service. Its strengths such as consistency, availability and ability to handle routine tasks, are too valuable to abandon. But the companies that win customer loyalty will be those that design AI around people, not around technology for its own sake.
Customers don’t mind talking to machines. What they mind is talking to machines that don’t listen.
The message from users is now unmistakable: They don’t need chatbots to be charming. They need them to be smart. They need them to be useful. And above all, they need them to know when to step aside and let a human take over.
As AI continues to take on a larger role in our daily service experiences, the brands that thrive will be the ones that remember something simple: the future of service is not less human, it’s more human in all the ways that matter.
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