The automation of telephone systems didn't make front desk workers "PABX assistants" or even "PABX Operators", the automation became a tool and faded into the background.
Automation of telephone systems have been rule-based and unable to communicate with knowledge bases. An AI-powered automation system that have access to knowledge bases... now that's a different story.
parent comment emphasizes on the fact that no matter how big the effort was, ultimately our tools will always be imperfect. Therefore we will always have something to do.