> for any company large enough to outsource "tier one" support to a call center overseas, the chat bot would actually be a big improvement.
More likely, a lateral move rather than a big improvement. But you're right -- companies that outsource the support to crappy call centers are companies that barely have customer support at all.
The overwhelming majority (like 98% or more) of support requests are from people who have not read the documentation and are asking about something that is well-covered within it.
Chat bots can't (currently) eliminate the agents who exercise critical thought and report bugs, but for any company large enough to outsource "tier one" support to a call center overseas, the chat bot would actually be a big improvement.