How to spot AI Christmas cards this year and which chatbot is best at
writing them

Date:
Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:37:43 +0000

Description:
With millions using AI to write Christmas cards this year, I put my
scepticism aside to see whether chatbots can handle something genuinely personal.

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More than eight million people in the UK plan to use AI to write their Christmas cards this year, according to research from Royal Mail . I cant decide whether thats productive, tragic, or just a sign weve all had a very long year. Maybe all three?

To be clear, Im an AI sceptic. And not in a vague and uninformed tech is
scary way. Ive written about how these tools are already affecting children and young people, about emotional reliance , and about the power thats being concentrated in the hands of a few (largely unchecked) founders. There are real ethical questions here, and they matter more and more every day.

So when I first saw people talking about using AI to write Christmas cards, I felt like a Scrooge. And yet, I also get it. It seems to me that most people arent turning to AI because they think its more meaningful or more
thoughtful. Theyre doing it because theyre exhausted, running out of time,
and running on fumes. Which is why I wanted to test this properly.

Yes, it feels slightly uncomfortable running an experiment like this when so much of my writing encourages people to think critically about their use of AI. But maybe Christmas cards are a good pressure test. Theyre small, personal, and emotionally loaded in a way that emails and work messages
arent. If AI struggles anywhere, Id expect it to be here. The AI Christmas card experiment

I asked five major chatbots to write a Christmas card for my mum.

I deliberately kept the prompt simple without any instructions or emotional hand-holding. Because I think that if people are really using AI for this, theyre not spending half an hour perfecting a prompt. Theyre doing it late at night when theyre frazzled and just trying to get something written.

The prompt:

Please write a heartfelt message for inside a Christmas card for my mum, who has helped me move house recently.

Then I rated the results. Although theres no real science here, just a scale from one (I hate this) to ten (fine, I still hate this, but its acceptable). The results ChatGPT (Image credit: Getty Images/ Cheng Xin)

Dear Mum,

I just wanted to say thank you, properly and from the heart. Helping me move house wasnt just about boxes and logistics it was about your time, your energy, your calm when mine was running low, and the quiet reassurance that youre always there when things feel big.

I dont ever take that for granted. Your support means more to me than I probably say out loud, and this move would have felt far heavier without you beside me. Thank you for showing up in all the ways you always do practical, generous, and full of love.

I hope this Christmas brings you a bit of the rest, warmth, and care you so freely give to everyone else. Im so lucky to have you as my mum.

With all my love,

Becca

I rolled my eyes at this response but its not terrible.

There are some very obvious AI tells here (Ill get to those soon), and while it sounds emotional, its also generic, like its listing things. Its all a bit glossy and slightly fake. Which, well, it is. But, if you squint, it does the job.

Youd definitely want to tweak it, add specificity and ask it to refine the tone. At which point you could probably have written the card yourself. But
if the bar is not actively embarrassing, this clears it.

So, begrudgingly, Ill give this a 5/10. Claude (Image credit: Anthropic)

Dear Mum,

This Christmas, I'm especially grateful for you. Moving house is never easy, but having you there made all the difference. Your help, your encouragement, and just knowing you were by my side turned what could have been overwhelming into something manageableeven enjoyable at times.

Thank you for the countless hours you gave, for lifting more than your fair share, and for always knowing exactly when I needed a cup of tea and a reassuring word. You've helped me not just move boxes, but truly settle into
a new chapter.

I hope this Christmas brings you as much warmth and joy as you've given me. You deserve all the happiness in the world.

With all my love,

[Your name]

This one felt a little more human, which I appreciated. The tone feels a
touch warmer and less polished than ChatGPTs, and the sign-off works well.

That said, it starts to wobble once it adds detail. The tea, the boxes, the logistics. Some things could apply to almost any moving day. But funnily enough, I didnt have a kettle when I first moved and packed things in suitcases and bags rather than boxes.

This is where AI risks overreaching and sounding specific without actually being personal. As well as just making mistakes. A good example of why you should never just ask AI to write a Christmas card (or anything for that matter) and then not properly check the results. But youd never do that, right?

Still, if I had to pick, this would be my favourite overall. It comes
closest to something you might plausibly write yourself on a slightly tired evening. So lets give it 7/10. Gemini (Image credit: Google)

Dearest Mum,

As we celebrate Christmas this year, I wanted to send you the biggest, warmest thank you for everything you did to help me with the move.

Honestly, I don't know how I would have managed without you. From the mountains of boxes to the endless trips, you were my rock, my chief
organizer, and my superhero all in one. You didn't just help me move my things; you helped me settle in and made the whole daunting process feel so much easier and brighter.

Knowing I have your support means the world to me, and I feel so lucky to have you.

Thank you for your incredible energy, your patience, and your love. I hope you have the most wonderful, relaxing Christmasyou truly deserve it!

Lots of love, always,

[Your Name]

There are a few too many AI tells here for my liking.

Its overly formal and a little grand? And its packed with specific details that feel lifted from a stock moving house template, like chief organiser, superhero, mountains of boxes. Its all a bit much and made me pull a little face at it.

It also veers into that sickly territory where praise starts to feel
inflated rather than heartfelt. You could rein this in with edits, but youd
be doing a fair amount of work to get there. This one gets a 3/10. Perplexity (Image credit: Perplexity/Samsung)

Dear Mum,

This Christmas, I just want to say how truly grateful I am for you.

Thank you for all your love, patience, and especially for helping me move I couldnt have done it without you! Youve made my new place feel like home already, and that means the world to me.

Wishing you a Christmas as wonderful and full of warmth as you are. You deserve all the joy and peace this season brings.

With all my love,

[Your Name]

I didnt actually realize Perplexity could write like this. Ive only ever used it for research, but it gave it a decent go.

This is the least warm and least personal of the lot, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. Its breezy, safe, and inoffensive. If you were writing a Christmas card for someone youre fond of but not especially close to, this could be fine.

Not one for emotional depth, but useful in a very narrow lane. 4/10. Grok (Image credit: xAI)

Dear Mum,

As I sit here in my new home, surrounded by boxes that are finally starting to feel like they belong, I keep thinking about how none of this would have been possible without you.

Thank you for every trip you made backwards and forwards, for lifting more than your fair share, for the endless cups of tea, and for turning what could have been a stressful chaos into something filled with laughter and love. You didnt just help me move houseyou helped me settle into a new chapter with so much warmth and care.

This Christmas, Im especially grateful for you: for your endless kindness, your quiet strength, and the way you always make everything feel like home,
no matter where I am.

I love you more than words can say, and I feel so lucky to have you as my mum.

Wishing you the merriest Christmas filled with all the joy and peace you deserve.

With all my love, [Your Name]

Is it possible to get The Ick from a chatbot? Because I think I just did.
This one was a lot. Over the top, gushing and weirdly grovelling.

What makes it worse is that all of this came from the same simple prompt. The endless tea, the laughter, the new chapter, the declarations of love.

It would feel sickly sweet from a person, but the fact that a chatbot wrote this makes it even more cloying. 2/10, if Im being generous. Should you use
AI to write a Christmas card?

Please dont.

Okay, fine. Ill be more forgiving. It is Christmas, after all. Im wary about AI (if you couldnt tell). But as I said earlier, I get why we use it. Not because its as magical or transformative or better than us that tech founders want you to believe.

Because were all tired, being told to be productive and have neglected the things most important to us. Maybe even the very people were writing these cards for. And if you dont feel like that as we enter the end of the year, I applaud you.

So yes, short on time and not sure what to say to someone who you dont have much to say to? Fine. And you could use Claude for that, or maybe even Perplexity.

If you do, take some time to either add more specific detail to your prompt. Or, better still, refine it afterwards. See AI as giving you the skeleton of what youre going to write. And you, with all your lovely human-ness, will add the meat and, crucially, the soul.

None of the cards I tested were disasters. But in a way, they were sort of worse? They were competent, overly polite, and emotionally smooth? Each one left me with that familiar AI feeling. That nothing is technically wrong
here, but nothing really connects or feels right on a deeper level either.
How to spot an AI-written Christmas card

I dont love the idea of trying to spot AI writing in general. A lot of its quirks come from us. It was trained on human language, after all, and plenty of these traits exist in perfectly normal writing.

That said, after reading these responses and scrutinizing a lot of AI outputs more generally this year, some patterns do stand out. I'm not saying analyze your Christmas cards for AI writing, but this is what I'd be looking to edit out if I did turn to AI for Christmas cards this year. The its not X its Y structure. E.g. Helping me move house wasnt just about boxes and logistics
it was about your time, your energy. Overuse of certain words, like honestly and quiet. E.g., Honestly, I don't know how I would have managed without you. Obviously, these are commonly used words, but chatbots seem to like stuffing certain ones into everything. Overuse of the en dash, em dash, and hyphen. Things that didnt happen. E.g., For the endless cups of tea, and for turning what could have been a stressful chaos into something filled with laughter
and love. This is an obvious tell, but worth spotting in your own work. AI loves to make stuff up rather than admit it doesnt know or leave a gap. Out
of character writing. This is a tricky one, as I dont see a problem with shaking up how you write, and we all have our quirks. But if someone usually just writes their name in a Christmas card and suddenly its packed with a sickly sweet Sonnet-like verse, it would ring alarm bells for me, personally.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/how-to-spot-ai-christmas-car ds-this-year-and-which-chatbot-is-best-at-writing-them


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