Fiat and Kia are using ChatGPT to sell cars in the metaverse

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Car manufacturers Fiat and Kia "hope to revolutionize the car-buying experience" by allowing customers to shop for vehicles through ChatGPT-integrated digital showrooms in the metaverse, Axios reports.

The Fiat Metaverse Store is a collaboration between Microsoft and software firm Touchcast, which was unveiled at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show last month. Microsoft recently signed a $10 billion deal with OpenAi, the creators of ChatGPT, and has been working on integrating the technology into its products.

As the immersive store is integrated into Microsoft Teams, Axios says, customers won't need a VR headset, avatar, or specialized hardware to shop in the Fiat digital showroom. If they need assistance, they can interact with either a human or artificial "Fiat Genius" that answers questions about the cars with the help of ChatGPT. "Customers can check out a vehicle's attributes, ask the Fiat Genius questions and potentially even complete their purchase from home," Axios writes. Complex questions are transferred to human assistants, "who can pop into the metaverse showroom from anywhere on Earth."

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The digital experience mimics how "a human salesperson would meet you in a dealership and you would ask them a question," Touchcast CEO Edo Segal told Axios. Eventually, Segal added, the technology will be available inside cars so that customers can ask questions after purchasing a vehicle. "It raises the fidelity of communications," he said. "It's even better than being in a dealership."

Kia Germany has also launched metaverse dealership that runs on Engage, a metaverse platform for business. The store is available on mobile devices or computers, but "the best experience is on a VR headset," Axios says. Using digital avatars, customers "can walk through a virtual showroom and interact with the vehicles, check out the service bays and get their questions answered by clicking on links that take them to Kia's website."

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Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.