How we’re helping Santa with generative AI

We’ve been helping children connect with the North Pole for a couple of years now. But this year is special.
Luke Hopewell · 22 November 2023 · 5 minute read

This year, Santa has a new little helper in the form of generative AI that will help him answer everyone’s questions so he can focus on fulfilling Christmas wishes for children all over the world.

Free calls to Santa with AI

From now until Christmas Eve, we’ll be connecting all our payphones around Australia to the North Pole.

That means kids and their parents can drop by a Telstra payphone, pick up the handset and dial #HO HO HO (or #46 46 46) to get put through to Santa’s workshop.

Aside from delivering their wish list, young ones can ask all sorts of questions, including how the reindeers are and if Santa has managed to track down Dasher yet.

How does Santa’s new AI work?

You would think Santa is too busy to answer calls in November and December, as he prepares toys for children far and wide. But thanks to the power of generative AI, we’ve been able to help the jolly man in the red suit get to all of those wish list requests that come in over our payphones.

Together with fullstop.ai and OMD, Santa will now use tech built on Google Cloud’s Dialogflow CX and the PaLM 2 large language model (LLM) to answer everyone’s calls.

First, we had to record Santa’s iconic voice. From there, a custom  model was created that would , capturing Santa’s personal and friendly tone as well as his various inflections and vocal expressions. Key to this whole process was the addition of AI prompt engineering, which works to bring out the traits we normally associate with Santa like his warmth, wisdom and kindness.

With the custom voice model and tech from the Google Cloud team, Santa is now able to respond dynamically and in real-time – something that wasn’t possible before generative AI.

We’ve even made sure Santa can cater to kids with different, more neurodiverse needs. If he asks a question and doesn’t get an answer straight away, he’ll allow them to take the time they need to get their question out.

What about privacy?

While the calls themselves will be transcribed in real-time to make sure that the AI program is working correctly, they will be deleted after a week to help avoid any privacy concerns.  All of our payphones will also carry a message on their screen and an introduction message from one of his elves saying that calls to Santa’s workshop are monitored for quality control, so everyone knows this before they dial the number.

We’re also taking extra steps with this to make sure that Santa’s generative AI is helping to give children the right answers to their questions, and only on the topic of Christmas.

That’s why the large language model  “frozen” That means Santa’s LLM isn’t being “taught” based on any of the calls made to the North Pole.

We’ve worked with the elves to test the hotline to make sure that it’s suitable for kids and adults alike at all times. And we’ve built it in line with the AI Ethics Principles, which we played a critical role in developing with the Australian Government to ensure AI is used responsibly.

Try it out by simply searching “Telstra Payphone” in Google Maps, dropping by your nearest payphone, and giving Santa a call on #HO HO HO (#46 46 46) today. 

Santa’s elves have also helped us liven up a special selection of payphones. Use our festive payphone Google Map to see where your closest one is.

 

 

By Luke Hopewell

Editor, tech expert and Senior Specialist Writer at Telstra Exchange

Luke Hopewell is an editor, tech expert and Senior Specialist Writer at Telstra Exchange. Luke joined Telstra in 2019 where he has had the privilege to help bring stories to life in a unique and human way. He was previously the head of editorial at Twitter Australia and the editor of cult tech site Gizmodo. For over a decade, Luke’s passion for technology has always driven him to seek out the latest gadgets and game-changers, and help others to understand how it all works. In another life he was a cyber security specialist where he sought to educate people about how to stay safe online. When he's not writing, he's getting outdoors and patting all the nice dogs he meets.