Leaders Preserve Human Touch In Customer Service

Horst Schulze and Micah Solomon write on February 4, 2026 that AI-powered chatbots and recent generative AI advances have accelerated adoption in customer service. They argue leaders should preserve the human touch—termed deep hospitality—when deploying these systems, noting human-led service provides qualitative value AI currently lacks and recommending human-AI integration to sustain customer experience.
Key Points
- 1Highlights proliferation of AI chatbots in customer service, accelerated by recent generative AI advances
- 2Emphasizes deep hospitality—the human touch—offers qualitative value AI cannot yet replicate
- 3Urges leaders to integrate human agents with AI to preserve experience and differentiate brands
Scoring Rationale
Useful strategic reminder for industry leaders and high-level guidance, but offers limited new evidence or empirical support.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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