ServiceNow acquired Moveworks for $2.85 billion in March 2025, a deal built to shift enterprise AI from basic data retrieval to autonomous task automation. The acquisition lands as the generative AI chatbot market climbs from $10.83 billion in 2025 to a projected $14.61 billion in 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 34.9%, according to a report from Research and Markets.
The report, "Generative AI in Chatbots Market Report 2026," projects the market will reach $47.99 billion by 2030, sustaining a 34.6% CAGR. Growth drivers include wider enterprise adoption of large language model copilots, demand for multilingual and voice-enabled chatbots, and deeper integration with workflow automation tools.
Customer service automation fuels demand
Automation in customer service is the engine behind the market's expansion. Companies want faster response times, 24/7 availability, and personalized interactions while controlling costs. Generative AI chatbots handle large query volumes with real-time, context-aware replies. According to a 2023 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report cited in the study, 98 million U.S. consumers used banking chatbots in 2022, with that figure projected to reach 110.9 million by 2026.
For customer support teams, the shift toward AI for Customer Support means rethinking workflows around tools that can triage, resolve, and escalate without constant human intervention. The report highlights that API-driven integration frameworks let enterprises embed generative AI into their existing applications with dedicated infrastructure, enabling faster response times and customized workflows at scale.
ServiceNow's Moveworks bet on autonomous task execution
The ServiceNow-Moveworks deal is the highest-profile merger in this space. Moveworks builds generative AI chatbot solutions, and ServiceNow plans to integrate its advanced AI assistants directly into its platform. The goal is moving enterprises past simple information lookup and into AI Agents & Automation that execute multi-step tasks without human handoffs.
In March 2023, OpenAI released its ChatGPT API with enterprise capacity options, giving developers consistent on-demand access and the ability to customize for scale. That move set the stage for the kind of embedded, API-driven chatbot infrastructure now reshaping the market. Other companies competing in this space include Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, IBM, Salesforce, and LivePerson.
Tariffs push adoption toward cloud platforms
Trade policy is shaping deployment decisions. Tariffs raise the cost of importing server and hardware equipment, which slows adoption in North America and Europe, the report notes. But those same cost pressures are accelerating migration toward cloud-hosted chatbot platforms and managed AI services, which avoid on-premise infrastructure expenses altogether.
North America led the market in 2025, while Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the coming years. The report covers markets across Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, and others, with Southeast Asia identified as an emerging hub.
Why this matters for customer support professionals
The 34.9% growth rate and ServiceNow's $2.85 billion acquisition point in the same direction: AI chatbots are moving beyond scripted FAQs into autonomous problem-solving. For support professionals, that doesn't eliminate jobs. It shifts the work toward managing AI tools, handling escalations the bot cannot resolve, and designing conversation flows that serve customers across languages. The report identifies customer service as the leading application for generative AI chatbots, followed by e-commerce, virtual assistants, and information retrieval. Knowing how to configure, monitor, and improve these systems is becoming a core part of the support function - not a separate technical role.
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