How we’re helping Santa with generative AI

We’ve been helping children connect with the North Pole for a couple of years now. And this year the magic continues.
Telstra Writer · 20 November 2024 · 5 minute read

​​​​Forget letters and long-distance calls – Santa's gone high-tech with a generative AI helper. That's right, Santa is using the latest tech to answer all those burning questions from Aussie kids so he can  focus on what he does best: making those Christmas wishes come true!

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 ​their Christmas questions, ​share their Christmas lists and get to know Santa better, ​including how the reindeers are​.​​

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. 

Created together with fullstop.ai and OMD, Santa will use generative AI tech using Google Cloud’s Dialogflow CX and Google’s Gemini large language model (LLM) to answer everyone’s calls. It’s built on the playful assumption that all callers believe in Santa and keeps all the answers focused on the joy of Christmas. 

Santa’s voice is generated using Google's custom voice model that was created from recordings we made with Santa especially for this project. From there, a custom model was created that would capture 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.  While helping to steer Santa away from traps or touchy topics that might come up in the dialogue.

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

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 72 hours 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 at the beginning of the call saying that calls to Santa’s workshop are being recorded for quality control, so everyone knows this.

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, ​​ it is geared to converse using child-appropriate language, ​and only on the topic of Christmas.

​​​Plus, the conversations Santa has with each caller are isolated; this means Santa’s LLM isn’t being “taught” based on any of the calls made to the North Pole.  It’s “frozen”.

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​ map on​ Google Maps​ to see where your closest one is.

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