TL;DR:
- Comedian Karen Hobbs performed a stand-up set written entirely by ChatGPT, highlighting the AI’s limitations in understanding human humour.
- AI-generated jokes often rely on stereotypes and lack the nuance and adaptability of human comedians.
- Researchers are working to improve AI’s understanding of context and social cues, but investing in human comedians may yield better results.
The AI Comedy Challenge
Imagine this: a comedian walks onto a stage, but the jokes they’re about to tell aren’t their own. Instead, they’re written by an artificial intelligence. Can AI truly understand and replicate human humour? Comedian Karen Hobbs decided to find out.
In the heart of London’s West End, Hobbs prepared to perform at the Covent Garden Social Club. But this time, her set was written by ChatGPT, the AI platform developed by OpenAI. Hobbs was no stranger to tough crowds, but this gig was different. She would follow three comedians performing their own material, and her set would be a test of AI’s comedic chops.
The Rise of AI and the Quest for Creativity
In just two years, ChatGPT has gone from a niche tool to a mainstream phenomenon. It’s disrupted education, freelance writing, and even social media. But when it comes to art, can AI be truly creative? Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT learn from billions of lines of text, but their output is essentially a statistical prediction. Whether that counts as creativity is a hotly debated topic.
Can a Robot Be Funny?
To understand AI humour, we first need to ask, “How do jokes work?” Alison Powell, an associate professor at the London School of Economics, has a background in improv comedy. She warns that comedians should be concerned about data theft and AI’s improving ability to compete.
AI can repeat or slightly modify existing jokes, but it struggles with the nuance and adaptability that human comedians bring to the stage. Les Carr, a professor of web science at the University of Southampton and a stand-up comedian, echoes these concerns. He notes that jokes are often shared widely online, making it difficult to trace their origins.
The Jokes of the Future
When Hobbs prompted ChatGPT to write her set, she encountered an unexpected problem. The AI defaulted to a male voice, joking about a shopping-obsessed girlfriend. When Hobbs asked for a female voice, the AI shifted the stereotype to the first person.
The jokes ChatGPT produced were clichéd and relied on lazy stereotypes. Michael Ryan, a Stanford University AI expert, explains that AI lacks the ability to lead an audience through a funny story to a hilarious punchline. However, research is ongoing to improve AI’s understanding of the world and its ability to adapt in real time.
The AI Comedy Experiment
Back in London, Hobbs faced an audience where many were experiencing stand-up comedy for the first time. Drew Gorenz, a PhD student at the University of South California, found that AI jokes can be as funny as human-generated ones, given the right prompt.
But Powell argues that developing AI comedy is futile, impractical, and unethical. She believes that investing in human comedians would yield better results, as they bring diverse ideas and cultural contexts to the table.
The AI Comedy Set
As Hobbs performed her AI-written set, the audience’s reaction was lukewarm. The jokes often fell flat, and Hobbs herself seemed slightly horrified by the material. The AI could go through the motions of constructing jokes, but it lacked the secret sauce that makes human comedy work.
For now, comedians can rest easy. AI hasn’t yet mastered the art of making us laugh. But as research continues, who knows what the future of comedy might hold?
The Ethics of AI Creativity
The experiment raises important questions about AI creativity and ethics. As AI improves, so does its ability to compete with human creatives. But at what cost? Developing AI models requires vast amounts of energy and data, often scraped from the internet without permission.
Powell argues that investing in human creativity would be more beneficial and produce more surprises. AI might be able to mimic human humour, but it can’t replace the authenticity and vulnerability that audiences expect from comedians.
The Future of AI and Comedy
So, can AI really make us laugh? The jury is still out. While AI can generate jokes, it struggles with the nuance and adaptability that makes human comedy work. But as research continues, AI’s comedic chops may improve.
For now, comedians can breathe a sigh of relief. Their jobs are safe – at least until AI learns the secret sauce of human humour.
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