I can admit when I do something a little silly. A few months ago, I was on the hunt for a new vehicle for my husband. He’s spent years putting our family first, sacrificing and going without, and I finally decided it was time he had something reliable—and nice—to drive. He’s not a car guy by any stretch. He doesn’t like to talk money, hates the back-and-forth of negotiations, and honestly, he’s happily let me handle our last few vehicle purchases. Usually, I just text him when it’s time to sign. So, as any good wife would do, I started doing the legwork. Lots of text messages, lots of photos, lots of follow-up questions. One afternoon, as he was showing me a truck he liked, I got a random message from someone at a local dealership asking if I was interested in selling my current car. Strange timing, right? Almost like someone knew we were looking… I started texting back and forth with this person—who was incredibly helpful. They answered all my questions promptly, had all the info I needed, and honestly got me moving quickly toward setting up a test drive. They were professional, thorough, and made the process painless. So before locking in our appointment, I asked, “By the way, what’s your name? You’ve been so helpful.” She responded: “My name is Whitney! I’m happy to help get everything lined up and looking forward to seeing you Monday morning.”
When we arrived at the dealership, we were greeted by a kind, professional young man named Gage. He shook our hands, walked us out to the truck, and started going over everything with us. But not long into the conversation, he started looking a little nervous. He turned to me and said quietly, “Christine… Whitney isn’t real.” I blinked. “Excuse me?” “That was an AI bot,” he said. “My boss begged me not to tell you because he thought you might be embarrassed… but I honestly didn’t know what I was going to do if you asked to meet her.” At this point, my husband gave me a little smirk. I could already hear the comments forming in his head. I started mentally going over all the messages—how “Whitney” answered so quickly, how perfectly worded everything was… and honestly? I just shrugged. I mean, Whitney got us into the dealership and onto the test drive. She did her job…really well.
As we went through the paperwork, Gage would occasionally mention things like, “That line item? That pays the girls upstairs,” and I couldn’t help but chime in, “Like Whitney?” He just smiled. When everything was signed, sealed, and delivered, and Gage handed us the keys, I gave him one last grin and said,
“Do me a favor—buy Whitney a Sonic drink.”
So now, I’m not sure whether I should be scared about how far AI has come (although it has been a beautiful addition to my note writing in my home practice)… or just laugh at how completely I fell for it. Either way, I made a new “friend.” Her name is Whitney. And if you’re ever in the market for a great car buying experience—I can hook you up with Gage…he is real.
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