ChatGPT’s hidden Christmas trick turns a single emoji into a personalised Santa video

ChatGPT

OpenAI has slipped a festive Easter egg into ChatGPT, and it is delightfully simple to trigger. A subtle hint from chief executive Sam Altman has revealed a Christmas-themed feature that transforms a single emoji into a personalised Santa message, complete with a custom-generated video.

The surprise surfaced after Altman shared a cryptic post on X over the weekend, encouraging users to try interacting with ChatGPT using just one emoji. Curious users quickly discovered that sending the gift emoji unlocks a special holiday interaction that goes far beyond text.

Once the emoji is sent, ChatGPT responds by asking the user to upload or take a selfie. After the image is submitted, the request is handed off to OpenAI’s video generation system, which produces a short Christmas-themed clip built specifically around the user.

The resulting video features Santa Claus delivering a personalised message. The twist is that Santa’s dialogue and tone are shaped by signals drawn from the user’s past interactions with ChatGPT. In some videos, Santa praises the user for being good over the year and presents a fitting virtual gift. In others, he playfully brands the user naughty and hands out something intentionally disappointing. The judgement is humorous rather than harsh, leaning heavily into festive humour.

Users have no control over how the video turns out. There are no style options, prompts, or creative sliders. The visuals, storyline, and outcome are fully determined by the system, making the experience feel more like a surprise reveal than a creative tool.

For now, the feature appears to be limited. Each account can generate only one video, and attempting to repeat the process in a new chat session simply brings back the same result instead of creating a fresh one. Some users have also noted that other festive emojis, including the Santa and Christmas tree icons, seem to trigger the same Easter egg.

The feature is clearly seasonal, but it offers a glimpse into where OpenAI is heading with ChatGPT. Rather than treating chat, image generation and video as separate tools, the company is increasingly blending them into single, playful experiences that unfold step by step. In this case, a single emoji becomes the entry point into a multi-modal interaction that feels personal, contextual and surprisingly polished.

While it is unlikely to stick around beyond the holidays, the Santa video Easter egg adds a light-hearted layer to ChatGPT at a time when AI products are often discussed in serious, high-stakes terms. It also shows how small design choices can turn a familiar interface into something that feels fresh, fun and shareable.