CAA Report: AI Customer Service Complaints Surge, with Major Issues in Human Agent Transfers

On August 5, the China Consumers Association (CCA) released its "Analysis of Consumer Complaints Handled by Consumer Associations Nationwide in the First Half of 2026," highlighting a significant increase in complaints involving AI customer service or general-purpose AI systems. Consumers reported major issues including difficulty reaching human agents, AI customer service making false promises, and inaccurate or misleading generated content. Reporters from Beijing TV tested a short-video platform’s AI customer service and found it repeatedly indicated that human agents were busy. It took four separate requests to transfer to a human representative—and nearly six minutes—before the connection was finally successful. On some platforms, AI customer service obstructs access to human support through tactics such as repetitive looped responses and multi-layered redirections. The CCA emphasized that Article 20 of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law stipulates that businesses must provide truthful and comprehensive information about their services and must not engage in false or misleading advertising. Since AI-generated responses constitute part of the service provided, companies must establish smooth and convenient mechanisms for transferring users to human customer service when needed. Furthermore, responses from third-party general-purpose AI systems do not represent official commitments from platforms or merchants, and consumers should always reconfirm critical transaction details through the business’s official channels.