8:00 am, October 9, 2024
Car dealers using chatbots on their website may soon have to declare when they are using AI, a leading expert has predicted.
James Leese, sales director at Impel, says that legislation is likely to change in the coming years, as the technology becomes even more advanced.
The comments were made on the latest episode of the Car Dealer Podcast, in which Leese sat down with hosts Jon Reay and James Baggott to discuss how the motor trade can use AI to grow their businesses.
Among the top tips Leese dished out was the suggestion that dealers should consider using a female chatbot, rather than a male one, as research suggests buyers are more likely to engage with them.
He also insisted that most customers do not have any objections to dealing with AI – as long as the technology is meeting their needs.
Leese said: ‘At the moment, no one has to be upfront that you are talking to an AI bot or a piece of AI technology.
‘It’s down to our customers on what they decide to call their AI. That the AI will always have a name, whether they call it an AI assistant or whether it’s a sales assistant or whatever.
‘I think legislation will change and that you’ll end up being in a situation where you have to be upfront that this is a piece of AI technology you’re interacting with.
‘We see lots of examples of where conversations are taking place in the evenings, because obviously the AI is working 24/7. Those conversations take place at 7, 8, 9 o’clock at night.
‘You can tell that the customer hasn’t got a clue they’re interacting with a piece of technology.’
Discussing the advantages of using a female chatbot, Leese added: ‘There was a campaign that they ran in the US, where that you were following this conversation with someone that’s going on late in the evening and the AI has been called a woman’s name – “Chloe” as an example.
‘Interesting enough, the data actually shows us if it’s a woman’s name, there’s better level of interaction from a sales perspective than if your AI is a man’s name.
‘This conversation is going on with Chloe over a period of time about and then eventually it gets to a point where this gentleman engaging with Chloe is then saying, “Well Chloe, you seem to be working late, are you not married?”.
‘The AI will come down quite quickly and say, “Actually just I’m a piece of technology”. Some people have no idea. In other instances, you can tell quite quickly that you’re speaking to technology, but it’s getting much better now.
‘You’ll get to a point where it will start being much more intelligent in the way it understands intent and responds to your answer.
‘I’ve not yet seen any indication that consumers aren’t willing to interact with AI.
‘I think from a consumer’s perspective, if you can give me the information I’m looking for in a timely manner and it’s correct information and it’s on my terms, then actually they’re more than happy to interact with AI.’
The Car Dealer Podcast, sponsored by Carwow, sees an industry guest join our hosts to discuss the motor trade’s biggest headlines of every week.
A full list of the stories discussed on this week’s episode can be found here.
You can listen to all episodes of the Car Dealer Podcast on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
