This week, AI customer service agents made big waves worldwide. In the US, Airbnb reported that 50% of users now prefer its AI chatbot for booking help and refunds. Meanwhile, Klarna changed course by adding more human workers back to handle tricky cases, showing that AI and humans work best together.

Over in Europe, Vodafone teamed up with ServiceNow for a five-year plan to bring AI-powered help to customers across 20 countries. But not all news was good: US utility company National Grid faced angry customers over long wait times, proving even smart AI can’t fix everything yet.

Small towns got love too! Vermont’s Otter Creek finished building internet lines and now uses local workers for friendly tech support—mixing old-school care with new tools. Experts say this week proved AI agents are getting better, but still need human friends for tough jobs.