A hair straightener hates to see me coming. With thick, fine, curly and bleach-damaged hair, I’ve ruled out straightening my hair for well over a year. Enter the GHD Sculpt: an AI-powered styler that claims to adapt its temperature to the heat of your hair, not the plates.It sounds a lot like the Goldilocks of straighteners: not too strong, not too weak, just right. I was cautiously optimistic the Sculpt might be able to take this frizzy mane and turn it into something swishable, and after a few weeks of use, I can report this straightener is in a league of its own. Which is why I almost feel bad recommending it: it’s $449 / £369.How it worksJust like every launch in this past week, month, or even year, GHD has shoehorned the term ‘AI’ into its new tech. Intelligent it may be, but in practice, just means the Sculpt is responsive. That’s why it has no heat settings: just a power button and the same 185°C / 365°F top temperature of other GHD tools.According to the brand, the device takes 2,900 measurements per second, adjusting power output based on factors like hair thickness and styling speed. Simply put, it adapts depending on the temperature of your hair, not the plates.This means it's constantly reading your hair as you work and deciding, pass by pass, how much heat it actually needs, instead of blasting every strand at the same setting regardless of thickness or dryness.GHD uses four measurement systems to track how much hair is loaded between the plates, how much hair there is, how fast you're moving, and the angle you're styling at. So if you like to style in hefty chunks, it’ll give you extra power to account for the added heft.It’s no ChatGPT, but you can see how the Sculpt performs like an assistant in its own right. All I had to worry about was sectioning and not burning myself, which is a struggle at the best of times, so I appreciated the extra bandwidth.Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.First impressions One of the benefits of thick curly hair is that it can be styled any way. It just requires a little extra attention. When it comes to straighteners, a too-powerful tool often zaps my breakage-prone strands until they look coarse and straw-like.When it’s designed to prevent heat damage, a hair tool’s gentle settings leave me with a layer of flat frizz. Perhaps less heat-damaged, but definitely less sleek. One trip to the gym or ride on public transport later, it’ll jump right back to a tangled mess. Thankfully, because my hair is so tricky to style, the perfect test subject for a souped-up new tool.My first impression of the Sculpt? It looks… like a normal straightener. Thanks to a hefty (but stylish) plug, the tool itself feels incredibly lightweight, with slim plates.