Objective - AI chatbots are changing how companies interact with customers. AI chatbots leverage natural language processing and artificial intelligence to deliver customers a seamless, personalized, and user-friendly experience, ensuring quick, efficient responses.

Methodology/Technique - Using an AI chatbot as a virtual agent to assist customers can be seen as a tool for companies to provide better customer service. Despite their growing adoption across industries, AI chatbots in Malaysia's food service sector remain relatively underused.

Findings - Moreover, there is limited research on their impact, particularly in restaurant settings. This research aims to examine the impact of chatbot service quality adoption on customer loyalty in the food service sector. This research focuses on service quality attributes such as ease of use, availability, response accuracy, assurance, omnipresence, and human-like empathy. This research would adopt a quantitative research approach, with data collected through a Google Form questionnaire. A total of 185 valid questionnaires were gathered using a purposive sampling technique. The gathered data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS version 4 and the IBM SPSS Statistics software 29.0.

Novelty - The findings reveal that ease of use, availability, accuracy of response, and assurance are significant factors that positively influence customer loyalty. These attributes underscore the importance of service quality in fostering customer loyalty. This research provides valuable insights to support the food service industry in improving customer loyalty and to guide the adoption of AI chatbots.

Type of Paper - Empirical

Keywords: AI Chatbot, Service quality, Customer loyalty

JEL Classification: Q31, M15, L80.

URI: https://gatrenterprise.com/GATRJournals/JMMR/vol11.2_4.html

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2026.11.2(4)

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