Honey, should I pick this one or that?

Festive or restive season, retail therapy is always great for cheering yourself up. Nothing like a new pair of Louboutin Sport Kate Pumps in Yellow, or to heal a bad hair day by picking up a Hermes Birkin 30 (this time in blue). But gift shopping? That's less therapy and more of a gruelling triathlon, especially when your Christmas-New Year shopping is yet to reach the shopping list stage. Thankfully-or so the tech bros (no sisters yet, it seems) are promising-things are about to get easier. Companies are launching AI shopping assistants to rescue you from gift-buying chaos.

Amazon recently launched Rufus (not to be confused with 'doofus'), an expert 'shopping assistant' trained on the company's product catalogue. Rufus and its ilk are designed to answer burning questions like 'What's the best wireless speaker?' or 'Is this coffeemaker easy to clean?' However, hold off on popping the champagne just yet. Chatbots occasionally hallucinate, recommending, say, croquet sets for toddlers.

But you know who'll be secretly the biggest fan of the whole shopping assistant idea? Those awful shopping assistants: husbands. No more nervously tiptoeing through the minefield of 'Hon, which looks better, the red organza or the yellow silk?' Now, they can kick back, smirk, and say, 'Ask Rufus, darling,' while high-fiving AI for saving their golf day.