Christmas shopping made easy, courtesy of MR PORTER – and our learning computer.

What’s your favourite thing about Christmas? The mulled wine? The turkey dinner? Decorating the tree? Traipsing around a swarming shopping mall probably isn’t top of the list. But it’s not just labouring under all those cumbersome bags and boxes that brings out our inner Scrooge. There are also those tricky and picky friends and family members (the giftees) who induce our (the gifters) pre-holiday panic on an annual basis. So, what if we could make it simpler?

Without further ado, let us introduce the MR PORTER chatbot, your steadfast companion for the festive season who’ll help you in your hour of gifting need – provided you keep your phone on your person and secure a decent Wi-Fi connection. Available on Facebook Messenger, the handy little service will help you identify the intended recipient’s style and taste and match them to your budget with nothing more than a few taps on your touchscreen. In short, we’ve deus ex machina-ed Christmas. Just type “MR PORTER” into Messenger on app or desktop and chat away. Will it pass the Turing test? Unlikely. But it will make finding a gift that bit easier so you can get back to that mug of mulled wine. You’re welcome.

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