This holiday season, ditch the fruitcake and embrace AI! Chat with Santa to create AI Christmas movies and greeting cards, all with the latest AI features. We'll even help you tackle holiday weight gain with an AI assistant's advice (and shopping list). Merry tech-mas!
Tis the season to be jolly as ChatGPT-maker OpenAI releases a bounty of exciting new AI features to surprise and delight users throughout the holidays.
Chat with Santa AI
ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice feature got much merrier with the introduction of “Santa Mode,” enabling users to chat with the big man himself. Now, you can tell Santa what you want for the holidays, listen to reindeer adventures as he drops off toys worldwide, and ask about life at the North Pole or on the Internet.
To activate, tap the microphone icon at the bottom right of the mobile app, then the voice picker in the upper right, and toggle to “Santa: Merry and Bright.” Touch the snowflake to start speaking, and sleigh bells will ring as Santa greets you with a jovial “Ho Ho Ho.”
You can also call 1-800-CHATGPT to talk with ChatGPT for free for 15 minutes a month. It’s not Santa who answers, but the female voice is happy to adopt Santa’s persona when prompted.
Play AI Holiday Games
Just two years since its viral launch, ChatGPT now boasts over 300 million weekly active users. It is the only consumer-facing mobile app with an agentic, multimodal chatbot live on the Internet in certain modes.
In advanced mode, Santa can see whether ChatGPT Plus subscribers have been naughty or nice with the new “Vision” and “Screen Share” features. Once turned on in the mobile app, users can receive feedback on their appearance, surroundings, and activities within the apps on their phones.
OpenAI demonstrated this feature in its “12 Days of OpenAI” series. Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil showcased it by introducing ChatGPT to his team and asking it to recall who was wearing reindeer ears and had a Santa hat—a fun guessing game to try at home!
Beyond play, ChatGPT’s new vision capabilities help holidaymakers in many practical ways, including creating festive feasts. Turn on the camera by selecting the video icon in the app, and Santa can guide you step-by-step in baking cookies or mixing mistletoe mocktails. With screen share, you can even show Santa an app screen to get advice, like how to reply to a text from an unexpected holiday guest.
Make AI Christmas Movies
For fans of holiday romcoms, OpenAI has made its AI text-to-video generator, Sora, available to everyone at Sora.com. It allows users to create up to 50 free five-to-ten-second videos (480p to 720p) per month. ChatGPT Plus subscribers enjoy unlimited access through the holidays.
Like the Festive Feline Baker, a simple prompt like “an orange cat pastry chef baking a cake in a holiday-themed kitchen” can produce an adorable clip. While the text remains challenging—evident in garbled captions on realistic-looking newscasts—the technology is evolving rapidly. Alternatives to explore include Midjourney, Runway, and Synthesia.
Create AI Greeting Cards
To create festive greeting cards for family and friends, ask ChatGPT for designs using prompts like “Make an image of a reindeer and gingerbread man sledding through a winter wonderland.”
Alternatively, upload a photo by tapping the plus sign on the bottom left of the app and ask ChatGPT to generate a similar image. The image, rendered using OpenAI’s DALL-E generator, is available to all users in normal voice mode.
Join AI Podcasts
Google recently released its next-gen model, Gemini 2.0, to trusted testers and is preparing public offerings like Veo 2 for advanced video generation and NotebookLM. NotebookLM’s interactive mode lets users call into podcasts to ask questions based on uploaded sources like textbooks, YouTube videos, and website links. This feature can even guide users through setting up holiday gift gadgets.
And More
This year, there’s an abundance of fun chatbots to explore:
Claude by Anthropic, backed by Amazon, excels at spinning tales, crafting games, and holiday planning.
Elon Musk’s Grok analyzes social media posts and the web, offering insights with vision-based features like photo analysis.
Amazon’s shopping AI, Rufus, fetches answers about products and chats like a large language model.
When asked about weight loss during the holidays, Rufus suggested:
Practice portion control with smaller plates.
Choose healthier options like baked foods and vegetables.
Stay hydrated with water or unsweetened drinks.
Stay active with light exercise.
Get adequate sleep to regulate appetite.
Enjoy treats in moderation while making healthier choices overall.
Rufus even offered links to helpful products like a portion-control plate, digital food scale, and holiday fitness videos.
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