AI and ChatGPT are selling cars in the metaverse

• The two automakers are also among the first companies to identify practical business applications for ChatGPT.

Details: The Fiat Metaverse Store, unveiled in January at CES, was developed in collaboration with Microsoft and software firm Touchcast.

• Customers don't need a VR headset, an avatar or specialized hardware to access the immersive store. It's all integrated into Microsoft Teams.
• They're able to interact virtually with a human or artificial "Fiat Genius," who can answer questions about Fiat's cars in real time with ChatGPT's help.

How it works: Customers can check out a vehicle's attributes, ask the Fiat Genius questions and potentially even complete their purchase from home.

• Common questions get prerecorded video answers from virtual product specialists.
• More complex questions are referred to real humans, who can pop into the metaverse showroom from anywhere on Earth.
• If they don't know the answer, ChatGPT will help them find the right info.

What they're saying: The experience mimics the way "a human salesperson would meet you in a dealership and you would ask them a question and they'll say, 'Let me show you,' and they would walk over and they would open the door,'" Touchcast CEO Edo Segal tells Axios.

• Such interactions will eventually be available inside cars themselves, he added, to answer questions after purchase.
• "You always would rather call the dealer that sold you the car and say, 'Dude, how do I open the hatch?' Right? As opposed to looking at the manual."

What's next: The Fiat Metaverse store is currently available in Fiat's home market of Italy, but it will expand soon to other countries, including the United States.

Meanwhile: Kia Germany has also unveiled a Metaverse store, which runs on Engage, a metaverse platform for business.

• Customers can access the space on a mobile device or computer, but the best experience is on a VR headset.
• Via digital avatars, shoppers 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.
• Kia and Engage are also integrating ChatGPT and other AI tools to make the experience more interactive.

Reality check: Many shoppers will likely want to see their new ride in person before committing — for now, at least.

• Plus, the metaverse isn't the flashy buzzword it was even just a year ago.

The bottom line: The grafting of the physical and digital worlds is the beginning of a massive revolution in the car-buying experience, Segal tells Axios.

• "It raises the fidelity of communications," he says. "It's even better than being in a dealership."
• "At the end of the day, it's all about efficiency and saving time for humans to reach a particular goal in terms of finding knowledge or accomplishing something."