ChatGPT has been all over the news lately and has even been lauded as a great way to find holiday gifts, but is it any good at offering reliable Black Friday shopping help? In a word, no. Here’s what happened when we tried using ChatGPT to shop for Black Friday deals.
From analyzing documents to composing emails, ChatGPT and other AI chatbots certainly have their advantages. But the idea of them replacing humans has everyone a little on edge – especially in the creative world. We decided to put the AI tool to the test to see if it was ready to take over our jobs as shopping reporters, especially in the height of Black Friday season.
To kick things off in our experiment, we started with a basic question about a popular Black Friday shopping category: robot vacuums. We asked a pretty broad question – “What robot vacuums will be on sale for Black Friday?” — and ChatGPT responded with an even broader response, basically explaining that it couldn’t pull live data for specific Black Friday deals on robot vacuums in 2023. So maybe this question was too general and we should have more specific. I tried “Can you help me find Black Friday deals on the iRobot Roomba Combo j6+?” and ChatGPT gave me a list of places to look for deals on said vacuum, but no actual transactions.
Well, that didn’t work.
Credit: ChatGPT
More specifically has yet to result in any ACTUAL trades.
Credit: ChatGPT
At this point, things were not looking good for ChatGPT. I’ve changed categories and wording to no avail. Here is a list of some of the other prompts I tried:
What’s the best Black Friday TV deal?
What’s the best Black Friday deal for AirPods?
Can I get a laptop on Black Friday sale?
Will the Nintendo Switch be on sale for Black Friday?
How much were Beats Studio headphones on Black Friday 2022?
Show me the price history of AirPods Pro
No matter how broad or specific my queries were, I got some variation of the same basic answer as before: it can’t download live data, but here are some very general tips for finding deals. While tools like ChatGPT can certainly help you with some gift ideas this holiday season, you’ll need to rely on an actual person if you want to find transactions on these gifts. In other words, we win this round, robots.
Here are the trades we found the AI couldn’t.
Artificial intelligence may not be able to help you with your shopping, but we’ve got you covered. Robots can’t take our jobs yet. We’ve scoured all the retail giants for the best Black Friday deals and rounded them up so you can enjoy a hassle-free shopping experience this season.
Best Black Friday Robot Vacuum Cleaner Deal
Why we like it
The period of uncertainty between Amazon’s second major day of the year and Black Friday is clearly Shark’s time to shine. For a solid budget Shark option, skip the outdated $129 Shark ION and go for one from the newer Matrix line instead. For less than $200, the RV2300 model (without auto-empty dock) provides LiDAR-based smart home mapping and virtual boundaries, plus Shark’s Matrix technology that tackles debris from multiple angles in a crosshatch pattern to pick up anything that was missed on the first pass.
Shark itself claims that the Matrix puts out 50% more suction power than the Roomba i3 – and when the Roomba i3 costs $100 more even on sale, we’d know if this is an experiment you want to try. — Leah Stoddart, senior shopping reporter
Shop more of the best Black Friday robot vacuum deals.
The best TV deals for Black Friday
Why we like it
Although walmart-black-friday-2023″ target=”_self”>Walmart has many of the same deals on premium TVs as Best Buy or Samsung’s own website, this is where you can find cheap 4K TVs. Example: This 65 -inch 4K TV from Walmart-owned brand onn. may be the cheapest 65-inch TV you’ll see this Black Friday. There’s no fancy backlighting here, but reviews totaling nearly 5,000 five-star ratings note that the picture is stable for the price Roku is also built in. Leah Stoddart, senior shopping reporter
Shop more of the best Black Friday TV deals.
The best Apple Black Friday deal
Why we like it
Check out our full review of the M2 MacBook Air.
If you’re looking for a fast work-from-home machine or the perfect school companion, look no further. Although Apple has just released the new M3 chip for its iMac and MacBook range, the M2 is still very powerful. You’ll also get a 13.6-inch display (as opposed to 13.3 inches on the previous generation Air), a near-perfect keyboard, and best of all, this laptop at its lowest price yet. — Bethany Allard, Shopping Reporter
Shop more of the best Apple Black Friday deals.
The best Black Friday laptop deal
Why we like it
This 16-inch convertible laptop with a 13th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage comes from Lenovo’s incredibly popular Yoga series, which is known for 2-in-1 multifunction models with sleek, premium designs and sturdy 360-degree hinges. It’s relatively rare to see a laptop with this much memory in the sub-$600 price range, and it’s even rarer to find a Yoga for less than $500: you can lock it in for just $499.99 if you’re paid (Plus or Total ) a member of the My Best Buy program. — Haley Henschel, senior shopping reporter
Shop more of the best Black Friday laptop deals.
The best Black Friday gaming deals
Why we like it
The Nintendo Holiday Bundle gives you a standard (non-OLED) Switch, a digital copy of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and a three-month Nintendo Switch Online membership (you’ll spend almost $370 if you buy each piece individually). The bundle launched two months earlier than usual this year and is still in stock at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target, Walmart, and the My Nintendo Store. This will likely change as the holiday season approaches, so consider yourself forewarned. — Dylan Haas, lead shopping reporter
Shop more of the best Black Friday gaming deals.
The best Black Friday headphone deal
Why we like it
When it comes to Bose headphone deals, Amazon has given us plenty of options. There are the new QuietComfort Ultra headphones getting their first discount, the Bose 700 headphones at a record low price for anyone looking for 10 custom ANC levels, and the newest standard headphones in the QuietComfort line are also on sale for the first time. But there’s only one pair of Bose in-ear headphones you can pick up for just under $200, and that’s the QuietComfort 45s. Down to a new record low of $199, you’ll get top-notch ANC, 20 hours of battery life, and all-day wearable comfort for less than half the price of a pair of AirPods Max. — Bethany Allard, Shopping Reporter
Shop more of the best Black Friday deals on headphones and earphones.
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