“AI won’t take your job, but someone who knows how to use it will.”
As I waited to take the stage at Digital Dealer 24 in Vegas, my mind was swirling through mental notes of how to recap my experience as the presenting sponsor of this years’ Ultimate AI Hackathon. But those words cut through the noise and really struck me.
At Gubagoo, we’ve worked to make dealers more successful through the incorporation of AI in their customer communication and shopping experiences, so sponsoring this event seemed like a perfect fit. I’ve spoken many times about AI empowering people, not replacing them, but that quote made me pause for a moment.
Those words didn’t change my stance on AI, but they did challenge me to consider if I had been embracing AI enough. And after what I saw during the AI Hackathon, it was clear I am only scratching the surface.
Forget what you know about trade show/conference sessions. This wasn’t sitting quietly and taking notes while a vendor champions their latest and greatest offering - this was an immersive, hands-on experience.
Teams were tasked with using free AI tools to create a six-month marketing plan for a dealer group, and before the three hours were up, they would be presenting these plans - budget, creative examples, timelines, and more.
I was skeptical of what strangers could accomplish in 90 minutes of work, but I was floored by the results. The presentations were cohesive and clean. The budgets were detailed. The taglines were catchy. And most impressively, the creative felt real.
As I watched a walk-around video of a Porsche that wasn’t real, placed in the center of a dealership that didn’t exist, it was clear to me how far these tools had come in a short time.
My hat goes off to the captains who donated their time not only in the session, but weeks before preparing for this event, and to Brent Wees for putting on a truly immersive experience. I walked away with so much more knowledge, and I’m excited to see the automotive industry really embrace these tools.
P.S. Here’s a list of some of the awesome tools the teams used to make their presentations a reality:
OpenAI - Chat GPT
Canva - Graphics
Midjourney - Image Creation
vidyo.ai - Video Creation
Runway - Image to Video Creation
OpusClip - Social Media Clips
Gamma - Presentations
Otter.ai - Meeting Notes