We Just Created the First Santa Claus AI
Our GPT toy came early this year, and we couldn't help but hack
If you work in technology and/or love to try the next new thing, you probably have spent a few hours going down the rabbit hole of OpenAI and its latest release of ChatGPT, which gained 1 million users in the first week after its release. Many people have tried it, and many more are debating its value. But talk is cheap, and if you’re not building with new technology, you’re not really learning.
That’s why our team at Hearty spent the weekend using GPT to create something for children of all ages: SantAI, a first and free tool for chatting with a virtual Santa Claus—just in time for the holidays. This is the story of why, how, and what we built over the weekend to get our hands dirty through good, clean fun. And I hope it inspires your team to hack together with new tech from time to time.
“We Need to Build Santa AI”
You ask, why is a tech-enabled recruiting startup with only four people spending time on a free Santa chatbot? First, we are fascinated by GPT and interested in learning how it works with live users. Second, the recruiting business slows down a bit in December, and our team likes to relax by building stuff. It’s a curse…
The third reason is that our co-founder, Ryan Watson, is a Christmas fanatic. He puts up his tree up right after Halloween. He watches Hallmark movies every night. And he’s been doing this since his 20s. Fortunately, his wife and young boys have almost as much Christmas spirit as Ryan.
During a team meeting last Thursday, we were trading the latest GPT tweets, and Ryan said (for like the 4th time), “We should build a Santa AI!” Something clicked in my head, and I said, “Yes, let’s do it!” Our meeting devolved into a planning session to make it happen over the weekend. Chris worked on setting up the API. Ryan designed a landing page, I wrote copy and created a marketing plan, and Ross grabbed the URL.
Within hours Chris had a proof-of-concept live, and we liked it enough to devote weekend time to SantAI. Monday and Tuesday, we put some finishing touches in place, working around candidate interviews and serving our clients.
We’re REALLY excited to see the initial feedback and proud of our final touch: Adding a charity tip jar for people who would like to pay it forward by donating to a worthy cause. We’ll give 100% of any donations to a group of charities that help make the holidays more joyous for families in need.
Early Learnings from GPT
We’re launching with friends and family as I type this, but we’ve got some useful lessons and insights already:
It’s amazingly easy to plug into OpenAI and its API tools.
With very little coaching, SantAI is truly “on brand.” He keeps everything positive and is child-safe—even when you ask naughty questions, like where do babies come from.
We spent the most time training and tweaking SantAI to ensure he did not promise to bring specific gifts to people. The program’s personality loves to please, so this took some work.
The conversations feel very real and keep you going. I mean, this is pretty close to passing the Turing Test.
People keep trying to trick SantAI into saying something that shows he’s a program. I don’t think it’s with ill intent—but rather that it’s in our human nature to pull and prod at the new thing.
The weakest part of GPT is that they have not connected it to the “live” Internet, so answers are not necessarily “current”. Don’t ask what the weather will be like tomorrow…yet.
Finally, we can’t stop calling this program “He”.
What’s Next
This whole project started with a very reachable goal: If only a dozen people visit this site, we’ll gain hands-on learning, keep our skills sharp, and have fun together. Mission accomplished!
And we’re already seeing many ways this technology could help us drive efficiency in our recruiting business and improve our service to candidates and clients. No secrets to share yet, but we’ve got almost a dozen ideas.
We hope this inspires your team to get their hands dirty with this new technology. Why not host a company hack-a-thon to build something for your business—or simply try some of the latest tools that others have built?
And there’s no better next step than heading over to SantAI and chatting with the Big Guy. Have fun, please share the app with friends, send us any feedback you have—and stay off the naughty list!
Bob Gilbreath is a 2x-exit entrepreneur and co-founder of Hearty, a curated matchmaking service that combines top software developers with early-stage, venture-backed startups.