【Peter Baumgartner】

ChatGPT has been all over the news lately and Peter Baumgartnereven lauded as a great way to find holiday gifts, but is it any good at offering credible Black Friday shopping help? In a word, no. Here's what happened when we tried to use ChatGPT for Black Friday deal shopping.

From analyzing documents to composing emails, ChatGPT and other AI chatbots certainly have their benefits. 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's up for the task of taking our jobs as shopping reporters, particularly with Black Friday season in full swing.

To kick things off in our experiment, we started with a basic question on a popular Black Friday shopping category: robot vacuums. We asked a pretty broad question — "What robot vacuums will go on sale for Black Friday?" — and ChatGPT responded with an even more broad response, which basically explained that it cannot pull live data on specific Black Friday deals for robot vacuums in 2023. So, maybe that question was too general and we needed to get 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 actualdeals.

Well, that didn't work. Credit: ChatGPT Getting more specific still didn't churn out any ACTUAL deals. Credit: ChatGPT

At that point, things weren't looking good for ChatGPT. I switched up categories and wording to no avail. Here's 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 on AirPods?

• Can I get a laptop on sale for Black Friday?

• Will the Nintendo Switch be on sale for Black Friday?

• How much were the Beats Studio Buds on Black Friday in 2022?

• Show me the price history of AirPods Pro

No matter how broad or specific my queries were, I received some variation of the same basic response as before: it cannot pull 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 dealson those gifts. In other words, we win this round, robots.

Here are the deals we found that AI couldn't.

AI may not be able to help you with deal shopping, but we've got your back. The robots can't take our jobs yet. We've scoured all the retail behemoths in search of the best Black Friday deals and rounded them up so you can enjoy a seamless shopping experience this season.

Best Black Friday robot vacuum deal

Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Our pick: Shark Matrix RV2300

Why we like it

The limbo period between Amazon's second Prime Day of the year and Black Friday is Shark's time to shine, apparently. For a solid cheap Shark option, skip the outdated $129 Shark ION and opt for one from the newer Matrix line instead. For less than $200, the RV2300 model (without an auto-empty dock) secures LiDAR-powered smart home mapping and virtual boundaries, plus Shark's Matrix technology, which tackles debris from multiple angles in a crosshatch pattern to grab anything that was missed on the first pass.

Shark itself claims that the Matrix dishes out 50% more suction power than the Roomba i3 — and when the Roomba i3 costs $100 more even on sale, we'd understand if that's an experiment you're willing to test. — Leah Stodart, Senior Shopping Reporter

Shop more of the best Black Friday robot vacuum deals.

Best Black Friday TV deal

Opens in a new window Credit: onn. Our pick: onn. 65-inch 4K Roku TV

Why we like it

While Walmart has many of the same deals on premium TVs as Best Buy or Samsung's own website, it's the place to find cheap 4K TVs. Case in point: This 65-inch 4K TV from Walmart-owned brand onn. is possibly the cheapest 65-inch TV you'll see this Black Friday. There's no fancy backlighting here, but reviews making up the near 5,000 five-star ratings note that the picture is solid for the price. Roku is also built-in. — Leah Stodart, Senior Shopping Reporter

Shop more of the best Black Friday TV deals.

Best Black Friday Apple deal

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Our pick: 2022 MacBook Air (M2, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD)

Why we like it

Check out our full review of the M2 MacBook Air.

If you're looking for a zippy work-from-home machine or the perfect school companion, look no further. Though Apple did just release the new M3 chip to its iMac and MacBook lineup, the M2 is still plenty powerful. You'll also get 13.6 inches of display (as opposed to the 13.3 inches of the previous gen Air), a near-perfect keyboard, and best of all, this laptop at its lowest price ever. — Bethany Allard, Shopping Reporter

Shop more of the best Black Friday Apple deals.

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Best Black Friday laptop deal

Opens in a new window Credit: Lenovo Our pick: Lenovo Yoga 7i, 16-inch

Why we like it

This 16-inch convertible laptop with a 13th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage hails from Lenovo's incredibly popular Yoga series, which is known for versatile 2-in-1 models with sleek, premium designs and sturdy 360-degree hinges. It's relatively rare to see a laptop with that 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 at just $499.99 if you're a paid (Plus or Total) member of the My Best Buy program. — Haley Henschel, Senior Shopping Reporter

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Shop more of the best Black Friday laptop deals.

Best Black Friday gaming deal

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Our pick: Nintendo Switch 'Mario Kart 8 Deluxe' bundle

Why we like it

Nintendo's go-to holiday bundle gets you a standard (non-OLED) Switch, a digital copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and a three-month Nintendo Switch Online membership (you'd spend almost $370 if you bought each piece separately). The bundle went live two months earlier than usual this year, and it's still in stock at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target, Walmart, and in the My Nintendo Store. That will probably change as we get closer to the holiday season, so consider yourself warned. — Dylan Haas, Lead Shopping Reporter

Shop more of the best Black Friday gaming deals.

Best Black Friday headphones deal

Opens in a new window Credit: Bose Our pick: Bose QuietComfort 45

Why we like it

When it comes to Bose headphone deals, Amazon's given us plenty of options. There are the new QuietComfort Ultra headphones getting their first markdown, the Bose 700 headphones at a record low for anyone looking for 10 customizable levels of ANC, and the latest standard headphones in the QuietComfort line also on sale for the first time. But there is only one pair of Bose over-ear headphones you can grab for just under $200, and that's the QuietComfort 45s. Down to a new record low of $199, you'll get top-of-the-line ANC, 20 hours of battery life, and comfort that allows for all-day wear for less than half the price of a pair of AirPods Max. — Bethany Allard, Shopping Reporter

Shop more of the best Black Friday headphones and earbuds deals.

Topics Black Friday ChatGPT