At a time when gas prices are hovering at near-record levels it helps to save every penny. And that’s what a new AI-powered tool is designed to do. Headlight.News has more on The Gas Index.
The good news? Gas prices have fallen by about a nickel since the week began, The bad news? The national average for self-service regular is still more than $4 a gallon, about $1.15 more than just before the U.S. launched its war against Iran on February 28, according to AAA.
For the typical American motorist, federal data shows that adds up to an extra $20 a week, or more than $1,000 a year were current prices to hold. At a time when inflation is fast on the rise again, most motorists are looking to save every possible penny at the pump.
There are a handful of tools out there which claim to help track the lowest fuel prices but they often have big gaps in the data they collect that can send users on a wild goose chase.
A new web service appears able to do a much better job, however, with the help of artificial intelligence. The curious thing is that The Gas Index originally was created not to track pump but tap prices, created by two Irish engineers looking for the cheapest pint of Guinness Stout.
The Guinndex
What was originally named the “Guinndex” turned out to have other applications, as creators Matt Cortland and Jon Fleming discovered.
Their system relies on a variety of different methods to keep track of local prices, among other things scouring social media, crowdsourced pics and user-submitted reports, while also making robocalls to individual gas stations to check for the latest updates.
One of the most useful features of The Gas Index is a calculator that allows users to enter data about the vehicle they’re driving, as well as the driver’s location. It takes that information and offers advice on whether it’s worth driving to the lowest-priced service station in your area and, if so, tells you precisely how much you’ll save.
Gas Index v Google
You might question why you need another tool in your fuel price war chest. After all, there are already services like GasBuddy.com and Google Maps can pop up fuel prices along your route. But the problem is that Google, in particular, only has pricing for about half of the country’s service stations. Part of the problem is that some chains, like Sheetz, as well as individually owned stations, don’t report their prices, especially when queried by phone.
The Gas Index is more than happy to digest the data Google has, but the service claims it can flesh out the information to cover virtually all other stations across the country.
Go to the site and you’ll find a button at the top of the home page you can click on to hear AI agents — named Hank, Peggy, and Bobby – call individual stations. “We used AI to call gas stations across America,” explained “Bobby,” the agent programmed by Anthropic’s Claude with a deep Southern twang. “We have a real conversation with folks and get the price of regular.”
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A variety of tools
Bobby and his buddies have been querying about 19,000 stations across the U.S. to stay on top of local fuel prices. So far, only about one in 700 refuse to provide that information, according to The Drive.
But “AI calling was always designed to be the kickstarter — not the long-term strategy,” founder Cortland, told ConsumerAffairs. That’s where the AI system has been programmed to look for all sorts of other clues as to the latest changes in gas prices across the country. Among other things, it scours the web for pics. And users can upload their own images.
To use the new service, simply head over to thegasindex.ai.
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