As technology booms, over 90% of BBB customer reviews that mention AI services express negative experience
Introduction
Artificial intelligence is inescapable. No matter where one resides, emerging technology is ubiquitous in the workplace, at schools and computers and phones. The benefit of a personal assistant at your fingertips is exciting for many; concerning for others. Businesses across North America are diving headfirst into the technological wave. This can mean implementing AI-powered creative products, machine-backed sales pitches, and automated customer service.
Many say they are excited about the way information is flowing like never before, but friction remains in how companies have moved from human-run customer-facing roles in favor of machines. Some members of the public express extreme frustration.
To better help businesses integrate these technologies, the Better Business Bureau’s International Investigations Initiative will highlight how consumers’ frustrations with emerging AI technology create friction in the marketplace. By addressing these concerns, experts say businesses can better implement these tools and show customers their feedback is heard and understood.
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Over the last three years, BBB has received over 100,000 complaints, reviews, and Scam Tracker reports mentioning artificial intelligence and automation. While reporting categories encompass different types of issues, there is one clear concern across all types of consumer sentiment data: customers often feel unheard or dissatisfied when dealing with automated and AI services.
Complaints and reviews about automated phone lines and online chat services pre-dated AI by many years. Recently, the pattern of complaints shows a noticeable bump, indicating increased implementation of these services, rising awareness of these productsand possibly a shift in public opinion. Whatever the driver of this increase, businesses with a strong desire for customer satisfaction shouldn’t shy away from new technology. They should be thoughtful in how they use AI’s growing capabilities to improvecustomer satisfaction.
As a part of a separate trend, this study also analyzes reports to BBB Scam Tracker to reveal a secondary but equally important issue. AI usage is now frequently cited as a scam method, and experts agree it is likely tied to rising reports. With increased popularity and usage, it is important for the public to understand its capabilities to not only protect themselves but also distinguish legitimate businesses from scam imitations.
How popular is AI?
The modern variation of the term artificial intelligence was first coined in the mid-20th century, as scientists and researchers sought to create so-called “thinking machines.” Even then, there was great discussion about what artificial intelligence was, and whether it could be created.
The most recent boom, the one people are likely most familiar with, originated in the 2020s, as now-ubiquitous companies and nonprofits like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and others debuted their large language models to the public. These models, officially called LLMs and often called chatbots by the general public, represent only a small fraction of the field of artificial intelligence. Still, they dominate conversation and public knowledge.
Many who have interacted with these chatbots quickly understand the excitement, as they seem to satisfy an almost science fiction-like dream: a virtual personal assistant that can call upon billions upon billions of pieces of text from the internet, books and various sources to synthesize the information and present it in an easy-to-understand format. Since the debut of generative AI, it is likely most people have now encountered AI-generated text, photos, videos, websites, and countless other creations that they may not have known were artificially generated.
There is no shortage of debate about the true capabilities of these models, but it is clear the business world jumped at the opportunity to adopt what appears to be an even-tempered, always on and never-fatigued employee. In 2024, corporate AI investment exceeded $252 billion, according to a Stanford study. Nearly $34 billion poured into generative AI.
The results appear impressive. Almost 50% of businesses using AI in service operations reported cost savings, and over 40% of companies reported similar savings in supply chain and software engineering.
When it comes to customer satisfaction with these products, BBB data shows a more mixed reception.
“There is a latent fear about what is this going to do to society, what is this going to do to my job,” said Benjamin Granger, chief workplace psychologist at Qualtrics, a company that surveys the public on various issues, including AI usage.
What do people think of AI?
BBB dove into its complaint and review data to determine exactly how consumers see, experience and think about Artificial Intelligence in their daily lives. Complaints and reviews when paired show how the real rollout of AI technology is shaping the business world and customer relationships.
The reception of AI usage and automation in business complaints and reviews shows a strong divide between how businesses and customers perceive these additions. Over the last three years, 91% of reviews about AI and automation have been negative. Combined with over 100,000 complaints, consumers have expressed a clear frustration with the changes.
One consumer told BBB: "My package has been sitting at this ... facility since December 17th with no updates on my package regardless of me reaching out every day. I have tried multiple times with no help as the only way to contact this company is an AI chatbot with automatic responses that also lead to emails from supposed real people (it is not). It is also AI or automatic responses.”
These issues are apparent not only in BBB data. Hubspot and SurveyMonkey teamed up to poll over 1,800 business leaders and nearly 16,000 consumers in a similar attempt to quantify how the rollout of Artificial Intelligence is perceived. They found over 82% of people prefer to connect with a human for support, even if wait times are the same. That preference grew more pronounced the older the survey respondent – with 91% of people 61 and over preferring a human over AI
Even when consumers choose to use AI, they don’t always trust the answers, with only 30% saying they trust it “completely or a lot.”
Granger said more people are using AI in their personal lives but dislike the lack of choice when businesses use it .
“If they are calling in to a call center, they feel they have a complex problem. In their mind, I can just explain this to another human; it’ll be quick. They feel forced into an AI experience,” he said.
Many customers also report frustration with automated marketing calls.
“I have never heard of the place I have never signed up for anything through the place, nothing ever. Now all of a sudden, I'm getting 10 to 15 spam calls from them a day,” one person told BBB. “I asked to be removed from the call list. Guess what? They still call. I call them back and use their automated system to remove myself from the call list, and yet they still call back."
Qualtrics 2026 Consumer Experience Trends Report survey of 20,000 consumers showed three quarters of respondents use AI daily and over half believe it will have a positive effect on society. It did, however, reveal two key data points for any business owner working with or considering AI integration for customer service:
First, one in five consumers said they “saw no benefits from the experience” of AI use in customer service, a rate 4x higher than other AI uses.
And second, 50% of consumers said bad experiences may result in them cutting their spending.
In short, customers may be driven away by poor customer service experiences, especially those where they believe AI is at the heart of it.
“You see people doing a lot of the wrong things with AI. One of the biggest things I have seen is thinking you can go in and reduce customer service,” said Terra Higginson, principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group.
These tools, especially when they are in their earliest forms, can be frustrating for customers if they don’t function as expected.
“People think chatbots are easier to implement than they are,” Higginson said. “Don’t underestimate that AI is a switch that’ll turn on and it’ll work.”
Do scammers use AI?
Since the advent of generative Artificial Intelligence, BBB has fielded numerous requests for information about AI usage and scams. Because consumers report directly to BBB, it can be hard to quantify from BBB data alone whether AI usage is on the rise or whether general awareness has led to an increase in reports.
After examining reports and talking with experts, it is likely that at least some of the rise numbers can be pinned on AI tools.
In reports to BBB, consumers said they believed they encountered AI-crafted voicemails, automated “customer service responses” to string along targets and AI-generated videos of celebrities, among other ruses.
"I watched a video on Facebook that was supposedly Dr. Oz,” one person wrote to BBB. “Then after the payment went through, I started seeing that it was an AI generated video ... There are thousands of people who have been scammed by this same company."
Another said they received a text blast as part of a group with fake medical information urging them to purchase a product. One person claimed they had a full call with an AI-produced voice.
Some of the riskiest frauds involved scammers simply telling people they were using AI tools for investments. Investment scams, in which fraudsters convince targets they are using sophisticated tools like AI, often involve handing over large sums of money. In 2024, the median loss in these scams hit $4,000.
“My participation was beta testing the Atlas Quant AI trading system,” one person told BBB. “They are basically holding my funds, approximately $4,000-$5,000 ransom.”
How can my business use AI?
Businesses shouldn’t be afraid of new technology. After all, some of the biggest changes in the last few decades – internet, email, social media – have been a major boon for existing businesses and the backbone of new ones. Instead, those looking to adopt AI and automation should listen to what consumers have to say as they air their frustrations.
Nearly 85% of consumers expressed concerns about their data security when using AI tools, according to the HubSpot/Survey Monkey survey. A similar number said disclosure about these tools is important. Transparency is key.
"What we are saying to companies, there is nothing wrong with adding those AI agents to solve simple problems. But give customers an out, give them a path,” Granger said. “Protect those human-centered moments.”
When using automated tools, one study showed the more sophisticated tools which highlight a host of qualities, such as “conversational naturalness, empathy, personalization, and social presence” alongside “accuracy, transparency, responsiveness, and data security” can do significant work in raising trust.
Additionally, businesses with certain demographics should pay attention to trends, surveys and consumer sentiment of their customer base when deciding whether to implement AI tools.
For some businesses, this may mean AI tools are not the right fit. An owner of a St. Louis area HVAC company told BBB, "Our company wants a human touch when it involves customer service and not leaving this crucial moment with an AI agent or other forms of technology.”
Others have found success in their AI implementation so far.
A radio station in Chicago said it only uses AI tools internally for note-taking, gathering sales data and brainstorming but it “does not use AI for any of our ‘over-the-air’ content.”
A community management company in Dallas said it has dedicated committees prioritizing implementation and listen to feedback on AI usage for projects such as “telephonic AI assistants to augment the work of our customer service agents” and "assist our customer service agents with rapidly finding answers and drafting responses to customer inquiries.”
This type of thoughtful usage is key, and experts said many know how something is rolled out and used is as important as having the tool itself.
“I don’t like to advise companies to adopt AI just to adopt AI,” Higginson said. “Do it because we are business leaders and we are dedicated to excellent customer service.”
Tips and resources
What can businesses do to integrate AI successfully?
Consider the ways customers interact with newly introduced technology
Offer opportunities to connect with a human representative after a certain amount of time
Create a clear system to escalate higher level complaints
Listen to feedback, especially on your company’s BBB profile
Build on successes where customers are praising new technology
Don’t be afraid to adjust if initial tech rollout isn’t working
Let your customers feel heard, even if they are upset
BBB tips to avoid AI scams
Avoid unexpected phone calls with an automated voice
Automation is spreading through all scam types, research individualized tips at bbb.org/scamstudies
Know that scammers can create new phone numbers on the fly and a new number may be the same scammer
Be wary of ads at the top of searches, as they may imitate real AI websites
Where to make a report
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or call 877-FTC-Help
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or call (202) 324-3000
Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre - or 1-888-495-8501
