What Is It Like to Be a Computer... at a Car Dealership?

A recent New York Times essay asked the question, “What is it like to be a computer?” The author, philosophy professor Barbara Gail Montero, argued that as artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated, it’s forcing us to rethink what “intelligence” and even “consciousness” mean.

I’d take that a step further: it’s also forcing us—human beings—to rethink how we work, learn, and serve one another.

At Earl Stewart Toyota, this isn’t theory. It’s happening every day. AI is reshaping how we operate—from how we analyze service data, to how we price vehicles, communicate with customers, and even measure satisfaction. The technology is evolving so fast that sometimes it feels like our computers are learning quicker than we are.

That’s not easy for everyone to accept. I understand that. Some employees worry that AI might replace parts of their jobs. Some customers wonder if it will replace the human touch. Those are fair concerns—and they deserve honest answers.

Here’s the truth: AI isn’t replacing people. It’s amplifying them.

It’s doing what calculators did for accountants and what hybrid engines did for mechanics—it’s removing drudgery and error so we can focus on judgment, empathy, and trust.

For example, our AI-assisted communication tools help us respond faster to customers, with more accuracy and transparency. Our diagnostic and scheduling systems are learning from every repair order, predicting problems before they occur. And our internal reporting systems now surface insights that used to take entire meetings to uncover.

Yes, it’s an adjustment. But progress always is.

I’ve watched this business evolve from handwritten sales slips and rotary phones to computers that can talk back—and now to systems that can think ahead. Every major improvement, from power steering to hybrid batteries, has met resistance at first. The pattern is always the same: once people see how it makes their work easier and their results better, they wonder how they ever did without it.

What I ask of my team—and our customers—is patience, curiosity, and an open mind.

The same way we learned to trust airbags, adaptive cruise control, and hybrid engines, we’ll learn to trust AI tools when they consistently make our experience safer, fairer, and more efficient.

This transformation isn’t just for the future. It’s for the present.

AI is already helping us serve customers more honestly, more efficiently, and with more insight than ever before. That’s good for our employees, good for our customers, and good for the business we all share pride in.

The philosopher in the Times asked what it’s like to be a computer. I’d flip the question: What’s it like to be human in a world where computers are starting to act a little more human, too?

At my dealership, we’re learning that it’s not about man versus machine—it’s about man and machine working together, both learning, both getting smarter, both serving something bigger: trust.