Will AI Replace Call Center Jobs? Reality, Risks, and the Human Edge
by King White, on Oct 8, 2025 7:00:00 AM
There’s a lot of buzz lately about AI’s capacity to automate customer support—and whether that means the end of human agents in call centers. Gartner’s recent prediction provides a sobering counterpoint to the hype: They expect no Fortune 500 company will entirely eliminate human agents by 2028. While some headcounts may be reduced, particularly for routine tasks, the complexity, emotional nuance, and exception handling in many customer interactions still demand a human touch.
These findings echo themes we’ve observed in past Site Selection Group research: AI doesn’t so much replace call center work as reshape it. Location trends, job creation numbers, and vendor strategies all suggest that human agents will still play a central role—even as technology shifts what that role looks like.
In this post, I’ll explore what Gartner’s view means for companies shaping contact center strategy, how our prior insights support this, and what organizations should be doing now to prepare.
What Gartner Sees: Key Takeaways
• Full agentless contact centers? Unlikely by 2028.
Gartner’s Kathy Ross states that while simpler tasks are already automated, the remaining customer service issues are inherently complex, requiring empathy, judgment, and exception management—qualities AI can’t replicate reliably.• Planned cuts may get reversed.
Among organizations that expect to cut large swaths of contact center headcounts because of AI, about half will abandon those plans by 2027.• Customer preferences matter.
Many customers still prefer dealing with human agents—even when factors like speed are equal. In high-stakes, emotional, or value-sensitive interactions, human agents still win out.
• Cost isn’t always lower with AI.
For complicated problems, the cost of a mishandled case (lost trust, repeat calls, escalations) may exceed what it costs to have a human solve it.
Strategic Implications: What Companies Should Do Now
1. Plan for hybrid work + AI augmentation
Invest in tools that assist agents (real-time data, AI-assisted note-taking, sentiment analysis) rather than aiming to strip agents out entirely. Blended models (AI + human) are showing better outcomes in customer satisfaction and cost control.
2. Reskill / uplift the workforce
As repetitive tasks get automated, human agents will increasingly be handling tricky, bespoke cases. Training should focus on soft skills, conflict resolution, complex problem solving, and familiarity with AI tools (so that humans and AI work in tandem).
3. Be cautious with headcount reductions
Gartner’s prediction that many organizations will reverse planned cuts suggests that aggressive downsizing (especially without fallback for quality or customer experience) can backfire.
4. Measure ROI, including risk
Evaluate costs not just in terms of tech implementation, but in the hidden costs: escalated issues, customer churn, and brand damage. Sometimes human spillovers (e.g., empathy, trust) can have long-term value that’s not easily replaced.
5. Location strategy still matters
Even as agents can work remotely more, factors like labor market, infrastructure, language skills, regulatory environment, and incentives remain crucial. Choosing nearshore or offshore sites with the right balance of cost, quality, and risk continues to be a competitive differentiator (a theme from our site selection reports).
Risks and Counterpoints to Watch
- Customer trust backlash: If AI is overused or poorly used—chatbots that lie, AI that doesn’t understand context or emotions—there’s a risk of reputational harm.
- Regulatory / ethical risks: Bias, privacy, and transparency around when AI is being used vs. when a human is speaking remain real issues.
- Technology limitations: Not all AI handles complexity well. For example, sentiment misclassification, failure in edge cases, or lack of cultural nuance can lead to costly missteps.
- Skills gaps: If companies don’t invest in agent training, they may find themselves with poorer outcomes, higher turnover, and lower customer satisfaction—even if costs are lower in the short term.
Conclusion
Gartner’s recent report underscores what Site Selection Group and many others have been observing: AI will reshape, but not replace, human roles in call centers—at least not in the Fortune 500 space by 2028. For business leaders, the imperative is to adopt AI thoughtfully: Leverage it to relieve agents of routine burdens, but preserve and elevate human skills where they matter most.
The organizations that succeed will be those that combine technological investment with strategy, skill development, and empathy. Because ultimately, customers don’t just want answers—they want to feel heard, understood, and respected. That still requires people.
