Artificial intelligence, or AI, is the inescapable buzzword filtering into every aspect of life. Whether you want it to or not. The rise of generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) has dominated headlines, become the focus of tech-firm keynotes, and probably even infiltrated your life – from your social media feed to the emails you receive at work. The latest arena to attempt to ride the wave of AI hysteria is the automotive world. From speeding up the design process via artificial assistance to simplifying car control through AI-powered systems, car brands are rushing to bring some form of AI integration to new models. Brands like BMW, Nissan, Tesla, Polestar and others have committed to adding AI assistants to infotainment systems. In China, at the recent Beijing motor show, Geely showed a plug-in hybrid with AI-capable powertrain management, while XPeng boasted that demonstrations of its AI-powered driver assist systems boosted customer sales by 118 per cent. How will AI be used in new cars? The first, and perhaps most obvious, integration of artificial intelligence systems will come via conversational LLMs. Systems like Grok, ChatGPT, and Gemini – which you may have heard of already – allow users to have conversations with an AI agent. The software uses deep learning, based on massive pattern-based data sets, to respond in a way that feels like a normal human conversation. LLMs can be prompted by developers to stick to certain subjects or avoid other topics that are deemed off-limits. In your car, this could mean that, instead of issuing voice commands that don’t always match user expectations, LLMs can provide a wider range of vehicle adjustment tasks or tackle other prompts with follow-on instructions. Right now, in-car systems struggle with multi-step commands, and often can’t integrate with systems outside of the car.