Scientists have created a Santa-detection machine and used it to prove what children have been telling adults for generations – that Santa has a unique face which clearly distinguishes him from other elderly bearded men. Previous research has suggested that children as young as three can identify Santa Claus based on his distinctive appearance. "Santa Claus or Father Christmas is obviously a very recognisable person, but we wondered whether this is because of his clothing, his beard or his face?" said Dr Thomas Wright, a clinical geneticist at the University of Manchester, who led the research. "Until now no one has ever systematically and scientifically interrogated the modern face of Father Christmas." To investigate, Wright and his colleagues trained a deep-learning facial-recognition algorithm – similar to the facial ID software used to unlock smartphones or identify people in digital photo libraries – on multiple images of Santa gathered from the internet.

Some people are definitely ending up on the naughty list this Christmas. Erotic audio platform BLOOM now lets users'sext' with Father Christmas himself. To celebrate the festive season, users of the bizarre AI chat service will now be able to speak with a'hot Santa' or his'naughty elf'. The AI will not only send flirty texts but even create unique audio messages in the voice of the Christmas characters. So if you're feeling frisky this festive season, you can now live out your fantasy from the comfort of your own phone.

The headline in early 2018 was a shocker: "Robots are better at reading than humans." Two artificial intelligence systems, one from Microsoft and the other from Alibaba, had scored slightly higher than humans on Stanford's widely used test of reading comprehension. The test scores were real, but the conclusion was wrong. As Robin Jia and Percy Liang of Stanford showed a few months later, the "robots" were only better than humans at taking that specific test. Because they had trained themselves on readings that were similar to those on the test.

Delivering presents to every child around the world in a single evening is an exhausting task, with only one man fit for the job - Father Christmas. But his outdated techniques seem more antiquated now than ever before. MailOnline spoke to a forward-thinking industry expert who offered Father Christmas some helpful advice to make his arduous task more efficient. Dr Carl Diver, academic lead at Manchester Metropolitan University in industry 4.0, said a hydrogen-powered sleigh, AI algorithms and elf-assisting robots could help. As well as streamlining production and making the manufacturing and delivery process more efficient, Dr Diver thinks the old methods would benefit from a sprucing up to make things easier, more cost-effective and better for the environment.

Do you remember the moment you found out the truth about Santa? Analysis of Google search data surrounding Santa found that on average, 1,116,500 children ask Google "Is Santa Real" each year. And when exploring the answer provided by the world's leading search engine, Google displays an article with an opening sentence saying "as adults we know Santa Claus isn't real". The article written by online publisher Quartz, aims to give advice to parents regarding what to say when your child asks "Is Santa Real?" but doesn't realise that the opening sentence of their article is the first to be seen by over a million children worldwide, shattering their beliefs instantly. Speaking to experts in Google search results, Stephen Kenwright, Technical Search Engine Optimisation director at Rise at Seven, said that "Google is ranking this article on Quartz as the no.1 result based on the authority of the domain and reliability of the content. "Google's algorithms choose the answer which bests answers the question searched, taking safety into consideration all whilst being factually accurate.

It's a question most of us have asked at one point in our lives -is Santa real? Today's children aren't looking to their parents for an answer, but are turning to Google and the search engine is shattering the shattering the illusion. A report found that 1.1 million children learn online that Saint Nick is a fictitious character, as the first article in the search says'as adults we know Santa Claus isn't real.' When searching'Is Santa real' the first article that is displayed comes from Quartz, which provides parents with advice on how to answer the question . And the introductory sentence of the article reads: 'As adults we know Santa Claus isn't real.'

Traditionally, excited children and their parents leave out biscuits and milk for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolph before going to bed on Christmas Eve. But now it's possible to stay up and track his journey around the world in real time using a number of dedicated'Santa Tracker' apps and websites. Google's Santa Tracker has animated videos, games and a world map with information on Christmas traditions in different countries. New Look, Black Tulle Pleated Midi Skirt £19.99 new look.com The search engine is counting down to Santa and the reindeers' take-off in less than a day's time – when his progress will be charted live on Google Maps.