A new ChatGPT feature will supposedly allow drivers to access information about nearby places to visit or even create quizzes to play on a long journey.
Despite decades of Hollywood blockbusters warning us about the rise of artificial intelligence, DS has decided to integrate the hugely popular AI program ChatGPT into its entire range of cars by the end of the year, including the DS 3 crossover, DS 4 hatchback, DS 7 SUV and DS 9 saloon.
For those who’ve been living off the grid in a nuclear bunker since late 2022, ChatGPT is a ‘generative artificial intelligence model’. Essentially it’s an AI programme that has been trained by consuming enormous amounts of text from the internet, that uses the information to generate natural and fluid responses to questions and prompts.
It also draws on every scrap of information available online in order to provide detailed and, hopefully, accurate answers to almost any question you throw at it – as almost everyone with internet access seems to have been doing since it went live last year.
What’s this got to do with cars? Well thankfully for anyone nervous that their family hatchback might rise up against them, the purpose of the ChatGPT here is to complement the brand’s existing voice recognition tech, mainly by providing travel advice and information. For instance, drivers can ask if there are any places on their journey they might want to visit, though it can do more, like create a quiz on your favourite subject or even a children’s story during a road trip.
You don’t have to open a special app to explore what the AI can do, as DS has integrated the ChatGPT directly into its regular voice recognition system which drivers can activate by voice command or pressing a button on the steering wheel.
Yves Bonnefont, chief software officer of Stellantis (who owns DS, as well as Citroen, Fiat and Vauxhall) said: “Even knowing all the inner workings and binary computations that allow ChatGPT to interact with its user, there is a certain fascination with how this conversational artificial intelligence model works. Its ability to interact is certainly one of the most striking applications of AI of the past year around the world.”
All four of DS’s models will be available with the ChatGPT feature, so long as they’re fitted with the brand’s DS IRIS infotainment system. The ChatGPT feature can be activated remotely and will be free over a six-month pilot phase for the first 20,000 owners who request it.