Despite companies, including firms from South Africa, actively investing in customer service chatbots, their consumers are increasingly turning to external sources for help. A new study by Gartner revealed that customers three times more often choose third-party generative AI tools over the companies' own chatbots when they need to resolve a service issue.
These findings are based on a survey of 3,566 business and consumer clients conducted in February and March 2026. The data indicates a growing gap between where organizations direct their AI budgets and the actual behavior of their customers.
Eric Keller, Senior Director Analyst in Gartner's Customer Service and Support practice, noted that customers are actively adopting generative AI in both personal and professional life, but this has not yet led to increased usage of chatbots provided by the companies themselves. Instead, generative AI is shifting some service interactions outside of the companies' owned channels.
According to Gartner, the use of third-party generative AI tools during support and service interactions has nearly doubled over the past year. In contrast, the use of company-provided chatbots has remained statistically unchanged since 2022.
The research firm suggested this may explain the low return on investment in AI for customer service. A separate Gartner survey among 1,303 executives across various industries, conducted from January to April 2026, showed that service and support leaders allocate an average of 12% of their 2025 budget to AI—the highest share among ten assessed business functions. However, only 24% of these leaders were able to demonstrate a positive financial return from using AI in their cases.
Keller emphasized that 'the disappointing impact of investments in customer generative AI is related less to technological limitations and more to misalignment with customer expectations.' He advised organizations to focus not on individual chatbots, but on AI-supported service scenarios that help customers solve problems through digital and voice channels.
The survey identified three key shifts in consumer behavior: customers prefer third-party generative AI tools over the companies' own chatbots; they use AI not only to get answers but also to perform tasks and take actions; and they expect the option to contact a live agent when companies implement AI in customer service.
The trend toward task completion is particularly noticeable: 58% of generative AI users reported using it to complete a task on their behalf, and this figure rose to 74% in the B2B environment. Keller added that many company chatbots are still primarily configured for answering questions, whereas customers increasingly expect AI to help them perform actions such as scheduling appointments, uploading documents, or updating accounts. Therefore, service and support leaders should rebuild digital support around dialogue-driven, action-oriented experiences, rather than viewing generative AI as an autonomous chatbot.
These results confirm earlier Gartner research: a survey published in July 2025 showed that over half of all customer journeys now begin on third-party platforms. The data is also relevant to South Africa, where large organizations are making significant bets on proprietary AI channels. For instance, the South African Revenue Service implemented the Ask Lwazi chatbot, aiming for AI agents to handle the majority of taxpayer interactions, as noted by Commissioner Johnston Makubu, referencing how China's tax authority already uses AI to process 80% of incoming queries.
On Thursday, the 9th, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Work. This is a version of the artificial intelligence (AI) developed by the company, specifically aimed at the work environment.
ChatGPT Work has the ability to perform various tasks directly in different applications and files used by users.
