Don't know what to buy your loved ones for Christmas? Just ask ...
Santa has a new little helper. But can an AI-powered shopping assistant really master the subtle art of gift giving? Some people love buying Christmas presents. Polly Arrowsmith starts making a note of what her friends and family like, then hunts for bargains, slowly and carefully. Vie Portland begins her shopping in January and has a theme each year, from heart mirrors to inspirational books. And Betsy Benn spent so much time thinking about presents, she ended up opening her own online gift business.
The Rise of AI-Powered Gift Giving
How would these gift-giving experts react to a trend that is either a timesaving brainwave or an appalling corruption of the Christmas spirit: asking ChatGPT to do it for them? The answer, like Christmas Day, will have to wait. But are people really asking ChatGPT to write their Christmas lists? It seems so. There are dozens of custom prompts on Open AI’s tool for people to generate Christmas gift lists and a flurry of Reddit posts from people searching for inspiration through a conversation with a chatbot.
Even if only a handful of people are doing it so far, the AI companies expect more to start soon. Last week, Perplexity launched “Buy with Pro” in the US, an AI shopping assistant that will let users research products, then buy them on Perplexity’s website, for $20 a month.
The Impact on Traditional Shopping
This move, days before the peak of the Black Friday retail frenzy, is a direct assault on Google’s online advertising stranglehold, according to Jai Khan, a director at Push, a digital marketing agency. “The big thing for us is what happens to Google ads if people start going to ChatGPT for answers.”
There are reams of Christmas gift guides online predicting which products will be the subject of the annual toy hysteria, while Lego’s Wicked range is flying off the shelves. Searching online is a small part of present shopping for Portland, a 53-year-old confidence coach from Winchester. “I tend to shop all year round for gifts – it’s very frustrating when you find the perfect gift in February, only for it to be out of production in December,” she said. “It helps with budget, too.”
The Personal Touch
Benn hates the idea of straight-to-charity-shop gifts. “I want my loved ones to feel truly seen, truly appreciated for their own quirks,” she said. The 49-year-old from Cheltenham founded betsybenn.com, a business selling personalised gifts such as Christmas tree decorations.
“The joy when the recipient knows this is just for them and not a hastily grabbed bottle of wine in a festive gift bag is an unbeatable feeling. And don’t we all just want to be seen and understood? Isn’t that the whole point of human connection?”
The Role of AI in Gift Giving
“The reality is, AI is a tool that’s harvesting data off the internet and comes up with two plus two equals four,” said Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, professor of consumer psychology at Anglia Ruskin University. “It can’t do emotion, it can’t do personalisation, because they can’t be quantified. Having said that, I think it’s a great idea, because we often run out of ideas ourselves.”
Embracing AI for Gift Selection
Faced with the stress of gift shopping, some people opt for AI assistance. Deciding what you might want is itself a form of terror for some. AI may be a solution there too, as most AI bots give users the option of remembering conversations and using them to inform future responses.
We could reach a point where heavy users find their best chance of being seen and understood is by their AI bot. So how did the gift gurus cope with ChatGPT?
Feedback from the Experts
Arrowsmith was unimpressed with the suggestions for her sister. It suggested Neom candles “but the prices were considerably higher than I bought yesterday on Black Friday deals”, she said. “Everything was so generic. I have bought her designer bags, not generic tote bags.”
Portland asked what she could get a “time-poor mum of disabled children” and thought the suggestions of spa days and long baths were inappropriate. “It may be what she needs, but not what she has time for,” she said. Other options were cleaning services, food delivery boxes and clothes, creating “a risk of offence, with getting the size wrong.”
Benn found the way to avoid cliched, generic gifts was to keep asking questions. “When you start adding interests or personalities, you get much better results – I love that,” she said.
