I had a similar experience recently EWR Terminal A, where the agent at Premier Access asked me to use the kiosk instead of doing an in-person check-in. Knowing that there was an issue with the app scanning my new passport, I begrudgingly went through the kiosk until it raised an error message. What I did not realize at the time was that the agent came around and went through the manual intervention on the kiosk, but without having to re-input all the travel information, and actually sped up the process. So in effect, instead of doing all the typing on the other end of the check-in desk, the work was done on the kiosk instead. Yes, it's not as "personalized" as the traditional way, but the agent and I had a chance to interact (for example, she was confused by the new COVID testing timing for entering the US), albeit standing next to each other instead of across the desk.