AI Chatbots Are Here to Do Business: United Rentals Now Has an AI Agent Inside ChatGPT

Perhaps you haven’t noticed, because you don’t work on the internet all day like I do, but there is a sea change happening in digital media and commerce right now. The traditional worldwide web is becoming less and less the primary interface for digital life and business — as the era of the language model has arrived. More and more people are turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok (well, maybe not Grok) to find information and increasingly do business. Here’s an appropriate example: Equipment rental just entered the AI chat era.

United Rentals announced this week that its AI-powered Equipment Agent is now available inside ChatGPT. The move makes United Rentals the first equipment rental company to launch an equipment rental application in the ChatGPT ecosystem, according to the company’s press release. A quote from that same release:

“Leveraging AI can make expertise easier to access,” said Tony Leopold, Senior Vice President — Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, United Rentals. “By bringing the Equipment Agent into ChatGPT, we’re meeting customers in the platforms they already use to plan work, solve problems, and make decisions. It’s part of our broader focus on creating digital experiences built around the speed, complexity, and realities of modern jobsites.”

How e-commerce is evolving. Should you?  

For years, companies optimized websites for Google searches. Now businesses are starting to optimize for AI conversations. Large language models are becoming the new front door to information. I guess it just makes sense that they would become the front door to commerce as well. For fleet managers and equipment operators, this means that the search bar is changing. As we already know from research, AI is barely being used in the construction sector right now. Construction is an industry that’s not big on change and can get along just fine without your fancy new widget.

Of course, similar things were said about machine control and telematics. In this situation, professionals are going to have less control. The business and transactional side of equipment fleets is where one of the big evolutions is happening right now — whether we like it or not.   

Let’s take this United Rentals news as an example. UR’s Equipment Agent acts like a digital rental counter rep. Users can describe a project, explain site conditions, ask about lift heights, trench depths, power requirements, or machine capabilities, and receive equipment recommendations through a conversational interface. The company says:

“The expansion reflects United Rentals’ broader innovation strategy focused on reducing friction for customers, improving access to expertise, and building digital experiences that help jobsites operate more safely, efficiently, and productively.”

This launch is part of a much larger shift

In my 25 years in the industry, the construction equipment business has always been relationship-driven. It’s an industry that has valued experience, application knowledge, and a firm handshake. AI tools will be an interesting addition to this culture, but the trend is real. United Rentals says early customer adoption shows strong usage around specification questions and rental planning tasks.

Of course, AI still has limitations. Equipment selection involves safety requirements, regional regulations, operator skill levels, terrain conditions, transport logistics, and attachment compatibility. And no chatbot can fully replace experienced rental specialists or field crews, in my opinion at least, but AI agents can be useful. Instead of scrolling through thousands of SKUs, users can describe a problem naturally. The system can narrow equipment options faster. That could reduce downtime during urgent jobs. It could also help less experienced users identify equipment more accurately. So, I see the useful possibilities, and the direction feels inevitable.

I’d get used to the idea that the future of equipment rental and the future of fleet management may start with an AI chat conversation instead of a phone call.