AI Assistant has appointed Carl Lightfoot as its chief technology officer (CTO) and member of its board of directors.

Lightfoot has more than 20 years’ experience in the automotive industry having worked with businesses including Progress, Autino, Castrol BP, Keyloop and recently working with AI Assistant director, Ritchie Kelk, in Motor Document Solutions, to enhance digital document technology and helping the business transition to Keyloop.

AI Assistant helps automotive businesses use artificial intelligence (AI) to automate aspects of lead generation and marketing processes such as setting appointments, phone calls, service bookings and test drives.

Ritchie Kelk, director of AI Assistant, said: “I have worked with Carl throughout my career and have always admired his open-minded approach to new technologies and his passion for making our industry better.

“With Carl’s extensive knowledge of how technology needs to work and be implemented within an automotive business, he is perfectly placed to help us navigate the challenging path of encouraging the industry’s adoption of automotive automation.”

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Lightfoot added: “I am passionate about the future of our industry and excited about the role that automation will play in that journey.

“The fact that Ritchie and I are so intrinsically linked to the automotive world and have such in-depth knowledge of how running an automotive business works on a day-to-day level, means that the decisions we make when developing technology are always focused on making our automotive colleagues’ lives easier.”