What started as Shaquille O’Neal eyeing a car vending machine in Nashville has become one of the strangest-yet-smartest uses of AI in retail. Years after that first sighting, Shaq teamed up with Carvana not just to endorse the brand, but to lend his voice, banter, and brainwaves to it. The result? Shaqbot—an AI assistant trained on O’Neal’s humor and preferences, built directly into Carvana’s customer experience. This isn’t just a souped-up chatbot; it’s a digitized version of Shaq choosing cars he’d drive and even roasting Charles Barkley while helping you pick between a sedan and an SUV.
The partnership grew out of personal admiration, not a media contract. O’Neal vetted Carvana’s co-founder Ryan Keeton through what may be the most heartfelt business diligence out there—watching him parent his kids. Instead of metrics and margins, Shaq looked for shared values, saying “it’s not gonna be about money.” This values-first filter isn’t new for Shaq, who famously invested early in Google after bumping into the founders at dinner. Nine years after noticing Carvana’s vending machines, he’s helping redesign how people shop for cars, starting with empathy, humor, and trust.
The partnership has also initiated a program to give away vehicles—no sweepstakes, no gimmicks—just cars handpicked by him and Keeton for people who need them. It’s a rare marketing activation where personality meets purpose, and AI becomes something more than a novelty.
Full story at The Drum.