A fleet’s marketing director scrolls past a LinkedIn post that’s been making the rounds. “You have to get your job listings ranked inside ChatGPT before your competitors do!” She forwards it to her team with a note asking “Should we be doing this?”
It’s a reasonable question, and one a lot of fleets are asking themselves right now, with some sharp people in this industry pushing exactly that advice. So we decided to gut-check it against how fleets and drivers are actually using AI.
What we found flies in the face of that advice.
Chasing an Audience That Isn’t There
The pitch behind AI search visibility sounds reasonable: AI and its use is growing rapidly, so the logic goes, make sure you show up when a driver asks ChatGPT or Google’s AI where to find work.
It’s pretty good advice…for chasing an audience that barely exists.
- 4% of drivers have ever used AI to search for a driving job
- 77% skip past Google’s AI Overview entirely to reach normal search results
Chasing AI search optimization means things like adding structured data to job posts so AI tools can read them, trying to get your fleet mentioned when a driver types something like “who’s hiring OTR drivers near Dallas” into ChatGPT, or when Google’s AI Overview summarizes results at the top of a search. It’s the same logic behind a decade of SEO, just aimed at a newer set of tools.
But optimizing for AI search right now means optimizing for an audience that, by the numbers, just isn’t there.
Yet.
Meanwhile, other fleets are putting AI to work somewhere that’s already generating a return.
Where the Real Payoff Is
AI search visibility isn’t the only way fleets are putting AI to work in recruiting, it’s just the one getting all the buzz right now. Which is odd considering that since drivers aren’t using AI to compare or search for jobs, that effort is the equivalent of screaming into the void.
Instead of trying to get discovered by a driver, fleets running tools like Randall Reilly’s Stratas Agent are using AI to actively engage with drivers the moment one calls in.
- 44% of fleets have piloted or implemented AI recruiting response tools (call/SMS agents)
It makes sense that fleets are looking for AI opportunities in recruiting. A seated truck earns a fleet about $13,000 a month, money an empty one simply isn’t making.
It doesn’t matter how visible a fleet is if the driver who finally calls in doesn’t get an answer. These recruiting response tools have become one of the fastest-adopted use cases for AI, and the highest-performing one because it’s helping fleets fill that seat faster and start earning that revenue back sooner.
Not All AI for Recruiting Is Equal
So what makes more sense to prioritize first: improve your AI search visibility, or improve your recruiting team’s response?
Both are using AI for recruiting. But so far, fleets and their teams are getting more benefit from the AI tools built to help them engage with drivers.
AI Search Visibility | AI Recruiting Response Tools |
Gets your name in front of a driver (Passive) | Answers when a driver reaches out (Active) |
Betting on a future audience | Serving the audience already calling in |
Only 4% of drivers use AI to search for jobs | 44% of fleets have already piloted or implemented |
One side is a bet on drivers changing their habits someday. The other is already earning fleets a return right now.
See What Else We Learned
This is only a slice of what we found. The full report breaks down the 8 AI use cases fleets are running, what’s actually holding adoption back internally, and where interest may be driving the next big AI push.
Fill out the form below to get the complete research.