Advanced AI Chatbots for Enhanced Customer Interaction: A Comprehensive Review of Emerging Trends and Future Directions

The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in customer service has positioned advanced AI chatbots as pivotal tools for enhancing interaction, engagement, and satisfaction. However, despite their rapid deployment across industries such as e-commerce, banking, hospitality, and education, challenges related to technological limitations, user experience, data privacy, and ethical accountability continue to constrain their full potential. Addressing these gaps requires a comprehensive understanding of the scholarly landscape that links technological innovation with strategic implementation and human-centric design.The aim of this study is to review and synthesize the existing body of literature on advanced AI chatbots in customer interaction, with specific objectives to: (i) examine the breadth of scholarly contributions, (ii) construct a concept map to visualize the intellectual structure of the field, (iii) highlight contributions from key topic experts, and (iv) identify emerging themes that define future research directions. Methodologically, the study employed a structured review using Scopus AI, accessed on 25 September 2025. Boolean search strings captured publications at the intersection of AI chatbots, customer interaction, and automation. The findings were synthesized using analytical layers: summaries, concept maps, topic expert analysis and emerging theme identification. The results reveal consistent emphasis on personalization, efficiency, and customer engagement, alongside rising themes such as advanced natural language processing, empathetic AI, and chatbot adoption in educational contexts. Novel themes, particularly data privacy and ethical safeguards, indicate the field’s shift towards responsible and trust-oriented chatbot design. Theoretically, this review contributes by mapping the intellectual and thematic evolution of chatbot research, while practically, it offers insights into strategic solutions for businesses seeking to optimize chatbot adoption. The study concludes by highlighting limitations of existing research and outlining directions for future empirical inquiry into empathy, trust, and ethical AI in customer interaction.