But what if the difference is either talking to an AI now, and the chances are fair that it can resolve my problem vs. staying on the line for a real person, who may be better able to help me, but there is a 2 hours wait (not an exaggeration, Hawaiian Airlines made me wait this long). Suddenly the former doesn't look that bad?

The possibility of being useful sometimes does not imply that putting a button to invoke an AI in every app is actually a good idea.

You reference a customer support line. OK, but would you make it so every use of Google Search starts off with a call to a customer support line before the search results?

That's a circular concern. The only reason there would be a 2-hour wait, would be because the company didn't hire as many customer support agents, precisely because they want people to use the automated systems instead.