Microsoft adds Radar the Elf AI chatbot to its Santa Tracker

The official Santa Tracker from the American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) has been updated for 2024. The tracker has been around for over two decades and has received numerous contributions from Microsoft.

This year, Microsoft has included a new AI-powered chatbot named "Radar The Elf" that accepts questions and responses to help you track Santa. Christmas elves are frequently portrayed as little creatures with pointed ears and colourful clothes. They dwell with Santa at the North Pole and serve as his helpers.

To begin utilising the chatbot, click the radar button in the bottom left corner of the tracker webpage. A chatbox will open, allowing you to ask queries in normal language and have the chatbot react accordingly. For instance, you can ask questions like "Where is Santa now?" or "Does Santa get cold?" or "Do reindeer eat cookies?"

Microsoft's Radar the Elf can respond to questions about Santa and NORAD in 133 languages. It also offers real-time language translation, allowing you to engage in multilingual conversations. If you ask the same question in various languages, the chatbot will modify accordingly.

You can select your favourite language and allow cookies on the website; Radar will remember your language settings for future interactions. "Even without cookies, Radar will use the first language chosen as the preferred language with each new session," Microsoft stated in a blog post.

Click on any of the houses on the tracker homepage to access the library, play games, locate Santa music, watch Santa videos, and much more. The NORAD Santa Tracker will go live in about three and a half days, when Santa will depart from the North Pole and travel around the world, delivering gifts to children along the route.

If you're wondering how Santa will accomplish the job in one night, "NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time in the same way that we do." Santa appears to have a knack of transcending time. We estimate that he travels at the speed of light!" the chatbot replied.