Mohamed Sobhy Temerak, Poja Shams, Arne De Keyser, Chiara Orsingher, Stacey G. Robinson, K. Nadia Papamichail, Linda Alkire, Michael D. Giebelhausen, Robinson S., Orsingher C., Alkire L., De Keyser A., Giebelhausen M., Papamichail K.N., Shams P., and Temerak M.S.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is radically transforming frontline service encounters, with AI increasingly playing the role of employee or customer. Programmed to speak or write like a human, AI is poised to usher in a frontline service revolution. No longer will frontline encounters between customer and employee be simply human-to-human; rather, researchers must consider an evolved paradigm where each actor could be either human or AI. Further complicating this 2 × 2 framework is whether the human, either customer or employee, recognizes when they are interacting with a non-human exchange partner. Accordingly, we develop an evolved service encounter framework and, in doing so, introduce the concept of counterfeit service, interspecific service (AI-to-human), interAI service (AI-to-AI), and offer a research agenda focused on the implementation of AI in dyadic service exchanges.