Dive Brief:
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Mercedes-Benz has integrated ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, into its MBUX Voice Assistant and will beta test it with U.S. customers starting today, according to a company press release Thursday.
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More than 900,000 vehicles are eligible for the optional beta test, which will last three months.
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The automaker will use the test findings to improve its voice assistant and could roll out the technology in more markets and languages.
Dive Insight:
ChatGPT and other AI-based technologies are rapidly gaining traction with automakers as they develop autonomous vehicles and compete with Apple, Google and Amazon for consumer attention and data. But most car companies don’t have enough in-house knowledge and staffing to develop and integrate the technology on their own, which has led to more partnerships with the tech industry.
Mercedes-Benz used Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service, a cloud-computing and AI platform, to integrate ChatGPT into its voice control system.
The automaker “is the first car maker to launch ChatGPT (an adaptation of OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 Turbo model) in its vehicles through Azure OpenAI Service,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email. In March, Mercedes-Benz started experimenting with a customer service chatbot based on Azure OpenAI Service in the U.K.
Microsoft became the exclusive cloud-computing provider for ChatGPT creator OpenAI after inking a multiyear, multibillion-dollar deal with the organization earlier this year.
Semafor confirmed in March that General Motors is also developing a virtual personal assistant that uses Microsoft’s OpenAI tech.
When asked whether Mercedes-Benz planned to make the ChatGPT integration permanent, a company spokesperson declined to comment.
