Artificial intelligence (AI) is developing at such a rate that it will be able to sell cars like a human salesperson in less than two years, according to predictions from Phyron.

The Sweden-based video technology software company believes an AI-powered sales bot is as close as 18 months away.

Johan Sundstrand, Phyron chief executive, said: “It’s only a matter of time before the AI technology advances to a point where the likes of ChatGPT can get very close to how a salesperson sells cars offline.

“We think this could be as soon as 2025 based on the current speed of AI development and adoption.”

Phyron is working on its own AI technology with automated voiceover to its AI videos, with the option of eight voices across 22 languages, with adjustable tones and accents.

The AI software and its algorithms enable Phyron to create videos for car advertisements which can be used on original equipment manufacturer (OEM) brand or retailer websites, as well as classifieds, across social media channels and targeted email distribution.

The company said this technology can be used to help vehicle sales to add voiceover to any product videos, including intros, outros, details on the dealership and teams as well as “call to action” elements.

Phyron said its technology has been specially trained for the automotive retail sector to produce bespoke manuscripts on a vehicle’s key attributes.

The AI can produce the voiceover from existing car ads, marketplace, and technical data. It works with any input, from five to 5000 words and can write the manuscript from the OEM copy, the dealers’ website or predefined templates.

How Phyron’s AI video works

Phyron’s AI video technology uses a data feed from a retailer or car brand, including at least three still images and key product details.

The AI then identifies the key properties in the images, including various shot angles, interior elements and exterior highlights, and then strips out the backgrounds and replaces them with a neutral one.

The software then adds special effects, shadows and overlays the desired product specifics and any customer offers on the relevant images, including price and retailer dealer branding.

Phyron said it can process “an unlimited number of videos concurrently”, taking about 10 minutes to render. It can post them live on a single retailer or classified online auction site, or scale them across an entire network if needed.

If a detail changes, such as price, or promotion, the data feed updates and the video is re-rendered automatically as part of the “small video fee” it charges as part of its service.

Phyron launched in 2019 and now has over 1,500 customers across Europe equating to 100,000 cars currently carrying a Phyron video in the ads.

Since January 2021, its customers’ car videos were viewed more than 250 million times and the company has also expanded into the North American market.