The art of gift-giving has evolved a lot over the years. Gift ideas can vary based on a wide range of different factors, such as who you’re shopping for, the event or occasion the gift is for, and your budget.
There are many resources online that can help you find that perfect gift idea. More recently, the artificial intelligence technology platform ChatGPT has become a popular tool that many use to get answers on just about anything, including AI gift ideas.
I’ve decided to put ChatGPT to the ultimate test for finding personalized gift ideas. Read on to learn about my experimental process in figuring out if AI really knows about the different factors that go into gift-giving.
What makes a good gift?
It’s impossible to understand if AI is a good source of gift ideas unless you know what a good gift actually looks like. Here’s a breakdown of the five key qualities of an excellent gift:
- Thoughtful
- Unique
- Surprising
- Meaningful
- Practical
To find out whether AI is a source of good gift ideas, I rated my own ideas against those sourced from AI. I used each of these qualities to figure humans or AI chose the better gift.
Positive Elements of Using AI for Gift-Giving
- Data – AI being a technological tool, its selection of a gift will be based on a data-driven approach. Its data-based estimations could be especially helpful when finding gifts for people you don’t know well.
- Efficiency – AI tools are meant to reduce time and effort and increase efficiency. Because of this, AI is a valuable tool for generating gift ideas quickly.
- Rarity – An AI tool has the potential to identify a wide variety of unique and niche gift ideas that might not immediately come top of mind to the average person.
Positive Elements of Gift-Giving as a Human
- Personalization – People usually have specific knowledge about their recipient that can help tailor their gift to their passions and interests, especially if they’re close to that person.
- Human Touch – A human can incorporate shared memories or past conversations with the recipient. AI can’t do that.
- Creativity – Humans are able to think outside the box and use their creativity to find or make suitable gifts for their specific recipient.
We’ve decided to put AI vs human gift-givers to the test by getting gift ideas from ChatGPT and comparing them to what a human shopper would purchase.
This is what I’ve found:
How to Brainstorm Gift Ideas
Whether you’re using an AI tool or shopping on a gifting platform, the first step is the same for both: Understand your recipient!
You’ll want to understand who your recipient is, what they like and dislike, what they’re interested in, and any other helpful information you can leverage when picking out the perfect gift for them. Once you gather these details, you’ll proceed with a different approach for ChatGPT than you would when shopping at a store or online.
Brainstorming AI Gift Ideas
On ChatGPT, I followed these steps:
1. Write a prompt
If you’ve never used an AI tool like ChatGPT, you might be asking: “What is a prompt”? Prompts are text inputs (questions, instructions, statements) written in the ChatGPT tool that will predict a response based on the information you provided.
You’ll want to provide it with any and all information you can about who you are shopping for! Remember, AI is only as smart as the information you give it!
For this article, we are going to use various prompts to help us come up with the best gift idea for our gift recipient. This is one of the templates we’ll use:
I'm looking for just 1 perfect gift for [event or occasion]. I'm shopping for [recipient] who is [info about your recipient; age, gender, etc.]. They love [hobbies & interests]. Could you give me only 1 gift idea, the best gift you can come up with?
2. Read the response
As I mentioned above, ChatGPT will give a response based on data and existing information sourced from the online world! This is a good point in the process to evaluate any ideas or inspiration that comes to mind when reading ChatGPT’s response. You can follow step 3 to ask more questions or provide more instructions.
3. Iterate and write more prompts, if needed!
Continue with detailed prompts as needed until the gift ideas match with what you’re looking for. If you like some gift ideas more than others, tell ChatGPT and ask them to suggest more based on that feedback.
Follow up prompt ideas:
Can you provide a different unique gift idea based on what you already know about my recipient?
That gift idea might be a little bit out of my budget, can you suggest another gift idea that is under $50?
I like this gift idea, but can we make it more personalized for my recipient?
Brainstorming Gifts as a Human
When coming up with gift ideas the old-fashioned way, I first asked myself the following questions:
- What kind of relationship do I have with this person?
- What does this person like? What are their interests or passions?
- Do any specific moments or memories come to mind when I think of this person?
- Have they mentioned any unique things they like in previous conversations?
- Are there any products or services they’ve mentioned and showed interest in?
If you see and interact with this person, it’s likely that you have a good understanding of what they already own and what they might want or need.
Based on my answers, this usually gives me a solid foundation of particular items to look out for when I’m out shopping or browsing online. Then, I proceed with these steps:
1. Start with a gifting platform
Zazzle is a great place to browse gift guides and personalized gift suggestions! But there is a wide range of online stores you can shop at.
2. Browse for inspiration.
Think back to your answers and keep an eye out for any items that your gift recipient would find joy in receiving.
3. Search for specific interests & products.
If your person loves travel, there’s a wide variety of amazing travel gifts to choose from. But if your person also loves cooking, sports, or movies, try to find a common theme and create your own gift idea! Your creativity has no limits!
4. Ask yourself: Does this gift idea cover the five qualities of a “great gift”?
We love a rating system! You can follow the rating system we created above to rate any gift item you’ve added to your cart before purchasing.
Rating the Gift Ideas: AI vs Human
Based on my own experience using both methods, I put together a rating system for each of the 5 qualities of what makes a “great gift”. While these are my own thoughts and opinions, we would love to hear from you in the comments about which gift idea you think is better.
Feel free to participate in the polls below, as well!
Trial 1: Mom – “Mary”
My mom, Mary, is 65 years old and has a lot of unique hobbies. She plays tennis on a team and with her friends. She enjoys getting manicures & pedicures. She watches movies at home and at a movie theater. She loves cooking and baking with new recipes.
AI Gifting
I started a new chat on ChatGPT and used the following prompt. I’m hoping to receive a response that will represent 1 perfect gift idea for my mom based on her interests and characteristics.
Prompt:
I'm looking for just 1 perfect gift for this upcoming holiday season. I'm shopping for my mom who is a 65 year old woman. She loves tennis, getting manicures & pedicures, watching movies and cooking food for her friends and family. Could you give me the best gift idea, only 1 gift, the best gift you can come up with?
Human Gifting
These are the steps I took to find the best gift for mom using Zazzle.
- Start on Zazzle.com
- Click Personalized Gifts
- Click Women
- Browse through products for inspiration
- 3 million gift ideas to choose from
- Search onsite for interest related product – I liked the idea of getting her a tennis apron
- Personalize it for my mom by adding her name
- Add to cart & purchase
Results
AI
Recipe Book and Cooking Class Package
ChatGPT suggested “Recipe Book and Cooking Class Package”. This gift is a thoughtful and practical gift; however, it really wasn’t unique or as meaningful as the gift idea I found using Zazzle.
A personalized tennis server apron checked off all the boxes when it comes to finding a “quality” gift. It’s unique, meaningful, thoughtful, practical, and has that surprise element.
AI provided a good gift idea that related to my mom’s interests, but adding that personalized touch using Zazzle really helped elevate the overall gift quality.
Trial 2: Coworker – “Tom”
My coworker, Tom, is in their early 40s. Their interests include board games and anything related to entertainment. They enjoy traveling, especially internationally. They love discovering and eating at new restaurants (specifically coffee shops) in their area.
AI Gifting
Similar to Trial 1, I went to ChatGPT and entered the following prompt.
Prompt:
I'm looking for just 1 perfect gift. I'm shopping for my coworker who is around 40 years old. They love board games, broadway shows and all types of entertainment, traveling internationally and eating at new restaurants and coffee shops. Could you give me only 1 gift idea, the best gift you can come up with?
Human Gifting
I followed these steps using Zazzle to find the perfect gift for my coworker.
- Start on Zazzle.com
- Click Personalized Gifts
- Click Men
- Browse through products for inspiration
- 5 million gift ideas to choose from
- Search onsite for interest related product – my coworker drinks a lot of coffee, so a mug would be perfect
- Personalize it for Tom by adding their name or an inside joke
- Add to cart & purchase
Results
AI
Broadway-themed Mystery Puzzle
Both of these gift ideas match the interests of my coworker. In my opinion, the Broadway-themed Mystery Puzzle Adventure that was suggested by ChatGPT wasn’t a thoughtful or practical gift for Tom.
Since I see and work with Tom every day, I had the advantage of knowing Tom has his morning coffee each morning in a basic coffee mug. Using this knowledge, I was able to find a gift that would be extremely unique, meaningful and practical.
Trial 3: Significant Other – “Shannon”
My partner, Shannon, is in their mid-20s. She enjoys baking pastries and desserts, especially cakes. She has a passion for arts & crafts, specifically painting on canvases. She is frequently traveling and exploring new cities with friends and family.
AI Gifting
Similar to the previous trials, I started by going to ChatGPT with the following prompt.
Prompt:
I'm looking for just 1 perfect gift for Christmas. I'm shopping for my partner who is 24 years old. She loves baking pastries and desserts, arts & crafts like painting on canvases, traveling and exploring new cities. Could you give me only 1 gift idea, the best gift you can come up with?
Human Gifting
I followed these steps using Zazzle to find the perfect gift for my coworker.
- Start on Zazzle.com
- Click Personalized Gifts
- Click Women
- Browse through products for inspiration
- 2 millions gift ideas to choose from
- Search onsite for interest related product – my girlfriend has been needing a new cake pan
- Personalize it for Shannon by adding her name or our anniversary date
- Add to cart & purchase
Results
AI
World Travel and Recipe Journal
ChatGPT chose a World Travel and Recipe Journal. While this gift matches the interests of my girlfriend, AI doesn’t necessarily know that Shannon already has her own recipe journal. Even though she might benefit from another journal, I wouldn’t say this is the perfect gift idea for her.
When using Zazzle to find gift ideas, I came across personalized cake pans. As someone who knows my girlfriend’s current cake pan has been very worn out, this became a super meaningful, practical and thoughtful gift idea.
Results of Using ChatGPT for Gift-Giving
The gift ideas generated from ChatGPT were practical and thoughtful.
When I input detailed information about our recipient, AI was able to give me a gift idea that matched the interests I supplied. The great thing about using an AI tool is its ability to provide many different types of gift ideas. There’s also a lot of value in using AI for large numbers of recipients or for people you might not know very well.
I believe AI doesn’t quite cover the element of surprise, uniqueness or deep meaningfulness since it doesn’t fully understand your recipient in the same ways you do. However, I do believe ChatGPT was able to include practical and thoughtful gift ideas for the people I was shopping for.
All in all, I recommend using ChatGPT or AI for gift-giving if you’re looking for a long list of different gift ideas or if you’re needing to shop for a large group of people. AI can definitely help cut down the shopping and exploring time that comes when finding the perfect gift.
Results of the Human Gifting Experience
The gift ideas I gathered as a human shopper were unique, thoughtful, meaningful, surprising, and practical. They kept all these qualities in mind when seeking out that perfect gift.
Being the human shopper, I was able to think creatively and broaden my search based on my own personal interactions with the recipient. This helped me create a completely unique experience that an AI tool might not have been able to successfully do with the information I’ve provided. However, the process was a lot more time-consuming, so it might be difficult to apply if you need to quickly find gifts for a lot of people. It also relied on a close personal connection, so it would be challenging to use for people you don’t know well.
That being said, I absolutely recommend the human gifting experience. There’s a lot of truth in the saying that “the best gifts are those that come from the heart”. Unfortunately, technology isn’t able to hold the key emotion that really elevates the overall quality of the gift – at least, not yet!
Conclusion
As artificial intelligence begins to be a tool used by many different people for many different use cases, it’s important to find a balance when it comes to using ChatGPT for gift-giving.
ChatGPT is great for getting that initial spark of inspiration, and it can provide gift ideas that might not immediately come to mind – especially when you need to come up with large numbers of gifts quickly. However, we believe adding your own human touch and creativity really helps you find and create the perfect gift for the most special people in your life.
Give this exercise a try and let us know in the comments below if you find AI gift ideas helpful. We look forward to seeing how you’re shopping for gifts with the holiday season quickly approaching!
Nicole is our Content Strategist. She enjoys long walks to Taco Bell, rollerblading into the sunset, and eating Reese’s Cups for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Find her writing about iPhone cases, holiday card messaging and even music festival tips!
