Michelle Low.
Michelle Low, carsales EGM of Tech & Data.
There is a paradox at the heart of modern technology: the more complex the engineering becomes, the simpler the experience must feel.
We often talk about consumer expectations as a moving target, accelerated by artificial intelligence. But we’d argue the fundamental desire hasn’t changed - consumers have always wanted clarity, confidence, and trust. What’s changed is our ability to deliver it. The question for leaders today isn’t just "how do we keep up?" but "how do we use these powerful tools to strip away complexity rather than add to it?"
At carsales, we are navigating this shift by focusing on what we call the "fidelity of the experience." It’s easy to fall into the trap of deploying AI as a shiny widget - a visible signal that "we are innovative." But true innovation is often invisible. It’s the hard work of taking a messy, high-friction process and rendering it effortless.
Consider our pricing badge. To a buyer, it’s a simple, reassuring signal: this car is well-priced. Yet, behind that badge sits a labyrinth of data science and real-time engineering. The customer doesn’t care about the "means" (the sophisticated algorithms or the cloud compute); they care about the "end” - the feeling of confidence that they aren’t paying too much.
This is the standard AI sets. It allows us to remove the wiring from view.
We see this same principle in how we handle language. Automotive retail has long been walled off by industry jargon that leaves many consumers feeling like outsiders. We are now using AI not to automate generic responses, but to translate that technical complexity into human language. This isn't just about readability; it’s about removing the anxiety of the transaction. When technology dissolves the barriers to understanding, it builds trust.
However, building these "invisible" experiences requires a visible shift in culture.
In many organisations, there is still a rigid separation between the "business" that defines the problem and the "tech" that delivers the solution. This is a missed opportunity. Some of our most impactful innovations haven’t come from a top-down mandate, but from the engineers themselves, who are closest to “the art of the possible".
We actively try to dismantle these silos through hackathons and mixed product-tech ideation. We give our graduates real responsibility from day one because it unlocks a sense of agency. When you empower engineers to be problem solvers rather than just ticket-completers, you shift the culture from "delivery" to "discovery."
Looking forward, the role of AI will evolve from transactional efficiency to relational intelligence. Instead of static enquiry forms, imagine tools that help dealers understand not just what a customer wants, but who they are and how they prefer to communicate. It’s using AI to amplify the human connection, allowing dealers to focus on the relationship while technology handles the cognitive load.
For leaders, the challenge is to look past the hype cycle. AI is not a bolt-on feature; it is a capability that must be woven into the fabric of your teams and workflows. It requires discipline to measure what matters - customer trust, team agency, and long-term value - ahead of more convenient metrics of deployment speed or code commits.
Consumer expectations will keep rising. But the winners will be the ones who use AI to make the complex feel simple, and the digital feel human.