Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2022 Feb;25(2):110-117. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2021.0155. Epub 2021 Dec 17.
A growing number of sectors are delivering customer services powered by artificial intelligence (AI) instead of humans, with evidence indicating labor cost reduction and efficiency improvement. However, it would be worthwhile to examine the extent to which consumers are satisfied with AI service agents. In two studies based on an analysis of 17,673 Weibo data (Study 1) and 33 interviews (Study 2), we constructed a pair of theoretical models of consumer attitudes toward AI services: a sentiment model and an evaluation model. The results from Weibo data analysis showed that consumers display a stronger negative attitude toward AI customer service than toward their human counterparts. Complaints regarding AI customer service is mainly about its poor problem-solving ability, while untimely response and lack of human touch also dissatisfy customers. Whether consumers offer positive feedback mainly depends on voice traits and service attitudes. The results from the interviews confirm an overall negative attitude of consumers toward AI customer service. Consumers also recognize AI customer service agents as human like and social interaction stress relieving. Taken together, these findings reveal Chinese customers' attitudes toward AI service solutions and provide concrete suggestions for the development and upgrade of AI customer services.
越来越多的行业正在使用人工智能（AI）提供客户服务，而不是人类，有证据表明这可以降低劳动力成本并提高效率。然而，值得研究消费者对 AI 服务代理的满意程度。在基于对 17673 条微博数据的分析（研究 1）和 33 次访谈（研究 2）的两项研究中，我们构建了消费者对 AI 服务态度的两个理论模型：情感模型和评价模型。微博数据分析的结果表明，消费者对 AI 客服的负面态度强于对人类客服的负面态度。消费者对 AI 客服的投诉主要集中在其解决问题的能力差，而响应不及时和缺乏人情味也让客户不满意。消费者是否提供积极的反馈主要取决于声音特征和服务态度。访谈的结果证实了消费者对 AI 客服的总体负面态度。消费者也将 AI 客服代理视为类人和社交互动的减压方式。总之，这些发现揭示了中国客户对 AI 服务解决方案的态度，并为 AI 客服的发展和升级提供了具体建议。
