AI Chatbots for Customer Service: What Actually Works in 2026
AI Chatbots for Customer Service: What Actually Works in 2026 TL;DR AI-powered customer service chatbots have moved from experimental to essential in 2026, with real-world deployments showing 65-67% ticket automation rates and measurable ROI within 2-3 months. The market splits cleanly between enterprise solutions like Intercom Fin and Zendesk AI (designed for large support teams) and SMB-focused tools like Tidio and Chatbase (optimized for quick deployment and affordability). The technology works, but success depends entirely on maintaining a solid knowledge base and implementing proper fallback mechanisms to human agents when the AI hits its limits. ...