Artificial intelligence has come on the scene and has been dramatically improved over the past few years. As the technology for AI gets better, the more useful it becomes. Many people are scared of AI and think it should be banned or at least moderated, while others see it as the gateway to the future. I believe our view/usage of AI should fall somewhere in between these two sides. It can definitely provide benefits, but overuse/reliance on it will only lead somewhere bad.
The concept of AI in sales seems somewhat backwards. One of the most important aspects of sales is the idea of trust and relationship between the seller and the buyer. I have not had much experience, but I would venture to suggest that forming a relationship with a computer is rather difficult.
This is why an article by Forbes caught my attention, which can be read here. The article discusses how AI can be used to close sales that would otherwise be lost. Michael Ashley, the author of the article, notes that many companies can lose millions of dollars in sales each year due to frustration from buyers who want questions answered, but are redirected to an FAQ section or chat bot instead of a real person. His suggestion to solving this issue? AI-powered sales order takers. Dan Wagner, Chairman and CEO of Rezlove AI believes that these order takers would be able to possess the knowledge and empathy that is typically only found in human salespeople. The AI works to mimic the behaviors of top salespeople, allowing it to read the room, understand pain, and make the close.
While I do not know if this will become the future of sales, I have already seen it in some instances, such as AI voicemail at my phone provider. I believe that AI can be beneficial, but I would be shocked if the masses preferred to buy from a chat bot over the experience of buying from a real person in a real store. We will see what happens as time goes on and AI gets better. Personally, I will always value human conversation over speaking to a robot, regardless of how artificially intelligent it is.
Ethan David 
Boohertw1
I do agree that we will definitely see more uses for AI in sales in the near future. I do not think that sales can be replaced by robots anytime soon, as it is mainly a personal relationship that makes the sales process work so well. Other areas of business could definitely be aided, if not replaced, by AI in the future and I think that is concerning to many.
I do agree that we will start to see AI being used in sales more than it already has. I also believe that AI will not take over our world and that we still need human interactions such as instore shopping or going out to eat and having a real waitress wait on you. However I do also believe it can be a scary tool, depending on how we choose to use it.
It’s crucial to be able to tie in AI in the sales world because AI has impacted many aspects of modern culture. Although like you said, in person conversation is much more personable than AI, we need to understand this will have some effect on us.