Chat GPI and the $1 Car Sale

Saw a fun item in the news where a Chevy dealer in Watsonville, California using an AI system to engage customers got the surprise of a lifetime when a canny hacker/consumer talked the AI into selling him a new 2024 Chevy Tahoe for… one dollar!

I’m sure it was a long day for the dealership’s IT folks. The article I linked to above explains that, per the dealer, it wasn’t a “binding offer” etc., etc., and there has been a bit of humorless pearl-clutching in the automotive trade press about the whole thing, not to mention the general topic of AI-based customer interfaces. I’ll leave others to sort that out beyond noting that AI is here to stay and will improve.

Still, I think the second biggest goof here was by Chevy’s PR folks and, of course, the dealership. Here is my pitch, when you have a big national oddity story like this, don’t run to the Grinch & Squirm law firm! Instead, run with it for the millions of dollars in great PR that can be had for GM and the dealer. You call the Kimmel or Fallon people and pitch this: “Our damn computer at Big Charlie’s All-American Chevrolet sold a guy a car for a dollar. We could legally weasel out of it, but we’d rather give the guy this beautiful new Tahoe for a buck on national TV, and then do a funny piece with Kimmel/Fallon where they help the dealer smash a computer with a sledge-hammer/chainsaw, etc. The classic Letterman gag destruction bit, but updated.

Get the shiny new car, the buyer and the dealer on stage and present him the car the AI offered him for a dollar. They get a laugh on us, that damn AI, and look at what an amazing truck this Tahoe is! It would be a viral hit — and national broadcast spot — worth millions. So, GM PR wizards, my guess is you have a lot more Tahoes in the national inventory than you’ve had great PR hits lately (sadly, a lot of it in the electric vehicle space). Next time swing for the fences and hit a home run!