It’s being heralded as the next big leap in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities – ChatGPT. The natural language processing (NLP)-based, AI Chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed startup, OpenAI gained over a million users within a week of its launch in November 2022. It has already found use cases in fields ranging from education to law, marketing to health, publishing to travel. Proponents claim it will be a powerful, game-changer that will add value and revolutionize multiple sectors, while its deterrents remain wary of its disruptive effects that could result in the elimination of millions of manual jobs.
How is it likely to play out in the automotive industry? As in other industries, there is no doubt that ChatGPT will bring in its wake sweeping change, setting the stage for greater technology-driven innovation, new applications, and business models.
Enhanced Customer Engagement
For a start, as automotive retail increasingly goes online, AI Chatbots like ChatGPT could be used to enable more meaningful customer engagement. Here, rather than having customers trawl through hundreds of car options, it could provide accurate information and targeted recommendations based on customer history and preferences.
Beyond helping customers select their car more quickly, it could assist with customization of insurance and financial packages as well as facilitate payment processes. This would yield significant time savings and boost customer satisfaction, while streamlining the car purchase journey.
Moreover, AI tools like ChatGPT would allow for consistently high quality and uniform standards of customer support. Other advantages would include 24/7 availability and the ability to accommodate dynamically changing volumes of customer service requirements.
For companies in the automotive arena, it would offer the prospect of improved operational efficiencies by fulfilling many of the more routine tasks. In such cases, escalation to human customer service representatives would occur only when more complex matters need to be resolved.
Safer Vehicles
Within vehicles, AI tools like ChatGPT would enhance safety features. For instance, thanks to its advanced conversational capabilities, ChatGPT would allow drivers to retain focus on the primary task of driving, while optimally assisting with various driver enquiries. Its integration with the vehicle’s infotainment system would also make interactions smoother and more intuitive, adding not just to vehicle safety but the overall driving experience as well.
The ability to rapidly process and analyze data and, subsequently, cohesively tie together disparate data streams has been one of the hallmarks of AI. In the case of vehicles, data is generated by multiple sensors – lidars, radars, and cameras. Here, AI could instantly synthesize sensor data to provide drivers with actionable insights, alerting them to potential traffic/road hazards, and allowing them to take anticipatory action. With further technological advances, this capability could be the fulcrum of smart, safe, self-driving cars.
Similarly, AI-driven accident alerting/reporting functionalities could both help emergency rescue teams respond faster and more effectively and could be a powerful resource for auto insurance companies in ascertaining liability.
Additionally, ChatGPT could assist automotive maintenance and repair companies with accurate damage assessment. Based on vehicle data analysis, it could also enable predictive maintenance, yielding significant cost savings and prolonging the working life of the vehicle.
Apart from safety, ChatGPT could also enhance navigation. Here again, leveraging the AI chatbot’s conversational capabilities, drivers could use voice commands to more effortlessly interact with their vehicle’s navigation system, obviating the need to manually scroll through a menu of location options to select their destination.
Proceed With Caution
From customers to automotive industry stakeholders, drivers to vehicles, car manufacturers to insurance providers, navigation to safety features, repair and maintenance companies to automotive parts suppliers – ChatGPT seems to have covered it all.
Little wonder then that the race for similar AI chatbots is becoming frenzied with Google, Alibaba, and JD.com all trying to fast-track their AI offerings. There have been reports of Baidu gearing up for the launch of an EV model that incorporates its new conversational AI bot – ERNIE Bot. The strategy is to emulate ChatGPT and integrate ERNIE with the in-vehicle voice assistant to support an enhanced user experience.
But that’s not all. Recent news highlighted ChatGPT’s choice of the “perfect” car for Indian roads. The AI chatbot ostensibly zeroed in on the following attributes: compact, affordable, fuel efficient, high ground clearance, robust suspension, and safety features with the ability to withstand challenging Indian road conditions.
While there is much to commend about ChatGPT, this is not to say there are no areas of concern. One of the most obvious is data privacy and security. The development of AI apps will spotlight the trade-offs between personalized experiences vs protection of sensitive personal data. There are also challenges related to accountability – where will responsibility be assigned if chatbots provide incorrect or inaccurate responses?
There is no doubt that AI chatbots like ChatGPT hold tremendous promise in transforming the automotive ecosystem in positive ways. That said, the automotive industry will have to strike a judicious balance, welding human ingenuity with technological innovation to deliver richer experiences across the board.
