November 24, 2025
3 min read
Is This Our First AI Thanksgiving?
As AI slips into kitchens, conversations and memories, Thanksgiving has become a test of how much we’re willing to outsource
Tom, the turkey in Google’s new commercial, is a plush—the kind of stuffed animal you might find on a couch. To dodge Thanksgiving, he asks Google’s “AI Mode” to point him to a destination where the holiday doesn’t exist. The 30-second ad isn’t just about AI; it’s by AI—the first Google commercial made entirely with its AI-generation systems to be released on TV.
Tom may be a cartoon, but he lands close to the mood right now. This year many Thanksgiving choices—what ends up in the oven, how much families spend, how the day gets remembered—may be influenced by artificial intelligence.
I’m not talking about a few tech-savvy hosts who have ChatGPT concoct a pumpkin pie recipe. A recent survey by software company Qlik found that 54 percent of respondents said they’d used AI to help plan, prep or cook a holiday meal. Among younger adults, the number was at 58 percent, but even a quarter of baby boomers reported doing so. About a third of people said they would rely more on AI than on family members to make a grocery list for Thanksgiving. Part of the motivation is saving money—over half trusted AI to lower costs. AI can hunt for deals, compare brands and find items within a proposed budget while taking into consideration guest counts and dietary restrictions. Sometimes bots place your order online; sometimes they tell you which nearby store has the cheapest boxed stuffing.
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AI is starting to sound like another kitchen appliance—which themselves are becoming more algorithmic, capable of recognizing the food you want to cook and adjusting temperature and timing appropriately. Some even learn your preferences. Humans still control these tools, but the judgment usually reserved for experienced cooks seems to be shifting to machines. Future Thanksgivings may require no human cooks at all.
AI is also changing how we communicate. With so little free time and so much pressure to be perfect, many who’ve never cooked a turkey might have a chatbot walk them through the steps, feeling safer asking “stupid questions” in private. People even report using AI conversation prompts to get lively discussions going at the table. AI can generate the toast, the prayer, the party games and the poem read before dessert.
It may even transform our memories. Platforms promote “Thanksgiving Dinner Portrait” image effects, transforming photos into banquet scenes with warm light and a perfectly styled table. Other presets promise golden‑hour Thanksgiving outdoors. Some sites advertise AI Thanksgiving image generators for greeting cards and seasonal marketing. In effects galleries, cozy Thanksgiving‑kitchen filters can sit next to AI boyfriend or girlfriend generators. A smiling partner or extra guest can be conjured as easily as a pumpkin pie.
With 72 percent of teenagers having used AI for companionship, one might slip away from the table to vent to a bot about a tense political debate. A young adult might message an AI “partner” when family questions about dating get invasive. The outlet might be helpful, or it might replace the work of maintaining relationships with the humans passing the mashed potatoes.
So is this our first AI Thanksgiving? In one sense, no. Global and national food systems have been computerized for decades, and grocery chains began using algorithms for logistics and pricing long before we heard the phrase “generative AI.” We all depend on algorithms for weather forecasts, route planning, flight bookings and online orders.
In another sense, the answer might be yes. For many, this may be the first holiday in which AI helps decide what goes on the table, what we say and how we appear to others.
Or maybe we’re asking the wrong question, and this isn’t our first AI Thanksgiving—it’s theirs. All our searches for cranberry sauce and gluten-free stuffing—every filtered photo, every venting session with a chatbot—are the real harvest: data from millions of homes, millions of side dishes, millions of negotiations about where to sit and what to say. We can easily imagine, in the years ahead, someone setting a seat for a tablet or robot and asking what it’s thankful for. If its answer is convincing, it will be because AI is already at our table, studying our messy ways.
Though unsettling, the prospect is also an invitation. If we’re going to be written into code, we can decide what AI sees. We can let it record an optimized, robotic evening, or we can leave glitches: embarrassing toasts, typical disagreements and spontaneous jokes. That way, when future models tell us about Thanksgiving, they will respond that a successful holiday can look a little broken.
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