The AI conversation at CBT’s Summit did not sound like a robot takeover story. It sounded more like a management conversation.
That may be the most useful takeaway for dealers. AI is not only a technology decision. It is a leadership decision.
The panelists discussed agents, guardrails, hallucinations, phone calls, CRM data, pay plans, BDC roles, and customer expectations. Underneath all of it was a simple idea: AI works best when leaders treat it like part of the team instead of a magic button.
AI in Dealerships Should Amplify People, Not Replace Them
Devin Daly of Impel described AI as a potential “10x assistant” for dealership employees. That framing is helpful because it moves the conversation away from headcount panic and toward better work.
AI can handle repetitive follow-up, answer common questions, maintain fast response times, and keep conversations moving. That gives salespeople and BDC teams more room to focus on higher-value work like appointments, relationships, demos, service retention, and closing.
The point is not that humans become less important. The point is that their time becomes more focused.
Train AI Like You Would Train a New Employee
Michael Affronti of DriveCentric compared AI onboarding to hiring an employee. That is the right mindset. You would not hand a new salesperson the keys, a phone, and a customer list without training. AI needs the same clarity.
Dealers should be asking AI partners and internal teams about:
Testing environments before launch
Clear guardrails for pricing and compliance
Quality assurance reviews
Conversation logs
Escalation points when confidence is low
Access to accurate customer and inventory data
Daly also raised two specific risks: hallucinations and jailbreaks. A hallucination happens when AI makes up an answer. A jailbreak happens when someone tries to trick the AI into doing something outside its intended purpose. Both should be planned for before customers are involved.
The Pay Plan Problem Nobody Talks About
Cassie Broemmer made one of the most practical points of the panel: AI implementation can affect pay plans.
If AI starts setting the easy appointments, what happens to BDC employees who were paid on those appointments? If a new tool changes the workflow but leadership does not change the incentive structure, the team may resist the tool, even if the tool works.
That is not an AI problem. That is a leadership problem.
Dealers have seen this before with CRM adoption, internet leads, digital retailing, and every new process that changed who gets credit for what. AI is no different. If leaders want adoption, they need to explain the why, update the process, and make sure compensation does not accidentally reward sabotage.
Do Not DIY the Highest-Risk AI Use Cases First
Several panelists made room for experimentation, but they also drew a line around consumer-facing communication. Internal reporting, accounting reconciliation, and workflow automation may be safer places to test lightweight AI tools.
Outbound texts, pricing conversations, trade discussions, payment quotes, and customer follow-up carry higher risk. Those areas involve TCPA, state-level communication rules, opt-out requirements, compliance records, and customer trust.
The takeaway is not “never build.” The takeaway is “know where you are experimenting.” A broken internal report is one kind of problem. A noncompliant customer text is another.
AI Leadership Starts With Process Clarity
Dealers do not need to become software engineers to use AI well. They do need to become clearer operators.
Before launching or expanding AI, leadership should define what success means. Is the goal faster response time, better CSI, higher appointment set rates, more service retention, lower SG&A, or stronger compliance records? Those goals will shape how the tool is trained, measured, and managed.
AI will not clean up a messy process by itself. It will usually reveal the mess faster.
The dealers who win with AI will be the ones who bring structure to it: clear goals, clean data, aligned pay plans, documented oversight, and a team that understands how the tool helps them do better work.
Huge thanks to Force Marketing for making our cover again possible.
