Experts build AI joke machine that's about as funny as an Adam Sandler movie (that bad)

The only thing worse than an Adam Sandler movie is a Ben Stiller movie.

I have recurring nightmares where I'm on a long haul flight trapped at the window seat by a really fat bloke and the only thing playing on the entertainment system in a Ben stiller movie that can't be switched off.

Well....

If they managed to get funding for this nonsense, then at least they are laughing.

At a research conference...

the AI was able to defend its own position.

At least the AI found the jokes funny, so there's that.

Not a good start

"Laughter is a special, higher-order function that only humans possess"

Laughter is common among primates, and there's decent evidence for similar behaviour (ie. enjoyment coupled with specific vocalisations) in plenty of other animals. Look up videos of things like crows giggling to themselves while tobogganing and try to convince yourself it's meaningfully different from human laughter.

Perhaps people attempting to study behaviour should learn at least the basics before diving in and trying to publish meaningful results. It seems particularly odd in a case like this where the goal is essentially to reproduce human-equivalent behaviour or intelligence; failing to understand what "human-equivalent" might actually mean really isn't a good start.

Humour and Japanese

The Vicar at the chuirch I used to attend once went to visit churches in Japan we had links with via a Japanese missionary who had attend our church in th epast. When there he preached at services with the this contact translating into Japanese for the listeners. During one talk he was telling one of the jokes he used but as he told it he realized the humour depended on a combination of the Englsh words used and the meaning in different contexts so he was surprised to get lots of laughs at the end. After the service he raised this with his interpreter and said how surprised he'd been that they got the jjoke - only to get the reply "Japanese people aere very polite and would not want to embarrass a visitor so I told them that you were telling an english joke and could they please laugh at the end"

I am Funnybot!

...crickets.

Awkward!

“Laughter is a special, higher-order function that only humans possess,”

Starting from an incorrect premise is always going to give dodgy results. Laughter is derived from the standard fear response of other primates. There is evidence to suggest human laugher is still an involuntary fear response, since many jokes depend on the unexpected, or the subject being placed in an uncomfortable situation.

Take it round some jaffa cakes.

It’ll be a long while yet before Alexa, Siri, or Google Home can make us laugh

I don't know; "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that" might hit the spot at the appropriate time.

Humour's a fickle thing. I've watched entire episodes of comedy sitcoms without exercising a single face muscle and they are written by teams of writers who have supposedly honed their craft over many years. On the other hand I have near wet myself at a perfectly timed expletive.

Good luck to any AI trying to figure out what's funny and what isn't

A long way from Interstellar

TARS: [as Cooper repairs him] Settings. General settings. Security settings.

TARS: Honesty, new setting: ninety-five percent.

TARS: Confirmed. Additional settings.

Cooper: Humor, seventy-five percent.

TARS: Confirmed. Self destruct sequence in T minus 10, 9...

Cooper: Let's make that sixty percent.

TARS: Sixty percent, confirmed. Knock knock.

Cooper: You want fifty-five?

The Sandler comparison

Is surely insulting to our new AI overlords?

Maybe try them with humor first, leave humour for next century

I can see them managing to produce humor - you mention Mr. Sandler.

Trying for humour is an altogether different matter - it doesn't even cross the Atlantic, so how can computers be expected to manage it?

"du méchanique planqué sur le vivant"

Henri Bergson spotted this a long time ago: "du méchanique planqué sur le vivant" - or human action made mechanical. Is it sad, funny or ... let's let the machines decide.