"Is AI going to take my job?" If you work a support queue, you've probably asked it. I started at Uber answering more than 600 emails a week, about fifteen an hour, and most of them were the same few questions. Today, an AI agent would answer most of that inbox on its own.
So here's my honest take, from someone who started where you are: AI isn't replacing CX. It's changing the job.
01What AI is taking
The lookups. Where's my order, cancel my subscription, what's your return policy. The answer lives in a system and the customer just needs it fast. In my Three Buckets framework, that's bucket one, and AI should handle it. Nobody got into support to paste tracking numbers.
02What it can't take
The damaged order where something doesn't add up. The customer who was charged twice and is furious about it. The person describing a reaction to a product. Those need someone to investigate, make a judgment call, and care how it lands. That's buckets two and three, and that's you.
03What that means for you
Fewer easy tickets, more hard ones. That's a harder job per ticket, but it's a better one, and it's the work that builds a career. The agents who do best will be the ones who get great at it: digging into messy problems, writing clearly, knowing the products and policies better than anyone, and owning the call. Learn how your team's AI works, too. When it gets something wrong, you'll be the one who knows why.
Will some roles shrink? Honestly, yes: the ones that were only ever bucket one. But the people who can handle what the bot can't are going to matter more, not less.
AI is taking the lookups. What's left is the part of the job that was always the point.
