One in Three Consumers Have Used AI Agents for Customer Service, New Research Finds

Capacity introduces The Agentic Consumer Report to examine how AI is changing consumer
behavior, confidence and expectations of businesses

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Capacity, the agentic support automation platform, today announced the release of The Agentic Consumer Report, based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers. As businesses deploy AI to improve the customer experience, consumers are also finding new ways to use their own AI tools and agents during customer service interactions. The report examines this emerging consumer behavior and its implications for business and contact center leaders.

The Agentic Consumer Report revealed that consumers, especially younger generations, are turning to personal AI tools more often during customer service interactions. These tools are also creating more empowered customers who feel increasingly comfortable pushing back on the responses they receive from customer service representatives and challenging their knowledge of company policy.

How are consumers using AI tools in customer service interactions?

The findings of the report highlight several ways AI tools are becoming a part of a consumer's customer service experience.

• Younger consumers lead personal AI agent use: While 35% of consumers surveyed have used an AI agent to handle a customer service request at least once, that figure rises to 49% among Gen Z and Millennial respondents.
• AI is introducing incorrect information into conversations: 55% of respondents have used an AI tool, such as an agent or LLM, to assist with a customer service request, but 44% said AI had contradicted a company representative or its policies.
• Consumers trust AI as much as a company representative: If AI were to give a consumer information that conflicted with what a customer representative had said, consumers are equally likely to trust either one.
• AI is changing how consumers challenge representatives: Among respondents, 34% said AI makes them ask more specific questions during customer service interactions, and 23% said they would ask representatives to explain or cite company policies because of AI.
• The escalation path is shifting: 20% of consumers said they would escalate issues more quickly when using AI tools, while 21% would trust their AI agent to connect them with a human representative, and then join the conversation.

"For years, customer service leaders have used AI to deliver faster answers and higher resolution rates. But as customers begin using the same technology to challenge those answers, the goal has to shift," said David Karandish, founder and CEO of Capacity. "Businesses need to rethink how they measure success, moving beyond speed and efficiency to consider whether their answers are accurate, their decisions are defensible and their customers can trust the outcome."

What does an AI-empowered customer mean for CX leaders?

Human representatives and AI agents must be prepared to support informed and assertive customers. As The Agentic Consumer Report highlights, consumers using AI are asking more specific questions, challenging answers and requesting policy explanations. Contact centers will need to equip representatives with accurate company information so they can address discrepancies and stand behind their decisions and responses with confidence.

Businesses must also prepare for interactions between customer-owned and company-deployed AI agents. Findings from The Agentic Consumer Report show that consumers are using AI to reach human representatives and feel more confident escalating issues when assisted by AI. Contact centers will need clear escalation processes and safeguards against repetitive AI-to-AI exchanges, ensuring routine requests remain automated while human representatives focus on complex issues.

"CX strategies need to adapt as consumer behavior shifts," said Karandish. "The best way to do so is with a continuous learning loop that recognizes when consumers are more likely to challenge an answer. Insights from those scenarios will be crucial to preparing both AI agents and human representatives for more complex, AI-assisted interactions."

The Agentic Consumer Report is available at: https://capacity.com/blog/agentic-consumer-report/

To learn more about Capacity, visit: https://capacity.com/

FAQs

How are consumers using AI to understand return, refund and cancellation policies?

The survey found that 36% of consumers would use AI to research return, refund or cancellation policies. With consumers turning to AI to understand their options before contacting a business, companies may face more informed customers who are prepared to question policies or challenge denied requests.

How does AI agent adoption differ across consumer demographics?

Nearly half of Gen Z and Millennials (49% each) have used a personal AI agent for customer service, compared with 35% of consumers overall. Adoption also differs among consumers with children at home. Among respondents with children ages 25 or younger living at home, 46% have used a personal AI agent, compared with 29% of those without children at home.

How might personal AI agents affect customer service during peak shopping seasons?

Holiday shopping and other high-volume periods could accelerate consumers' willingness to delegate customer service tasks to AI. The survey found that approximately 40% of consumers have used, would use or plan to use a personal AI agent during peak seasons with longer wait times. However, 30% say they still would not use an agent during these periods, suggesting businesses will need to accommodate both AI-assisted and traditional customer service interactions.

About Capacity

Founded in 2017, Capacity is the agentic support automation platform that powers every customer experience activity from a single AI knowledge orchestration layer. Capacity unifies omnichannel AI agents, real-time agent assist, automated quality assurance, conversational intelligence and proactive outbound WhatsApp, SMS and voice campaigns into a single platform so organizations can deliver faster, more consistent support. More than 20,000 organizations rely on Capacity to deflect repetitive inquiries, empower human agents, automate post-interaction work and proactively engage customers. To learn more about Capacity, visit Capacity.com.

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SOURCE Capacity