Comedy Bits Beat AI

The future is…

The future is…

We don’t know what will bring, but a lot of talks are around AI, and the fact that it will take our jobs. But, when the history of AI will be written, it will start with… And before AI, it was Covid19, that took our jobs. And when we talk about cultural and creative industries, Covid already did a not-so-nice job. Considering that against Covid19, at least now we have hope (with all those promised vaccines on the way), the question remains: what about AI? 

One way to “fight” AI is to really study it. What can we do, that AI can never do? So, at this point, we’ve turned to science. And after articles and books, one thing popped-up (thanks to the renowned physicist Michio Kaku’s book, the Future of Mind): robots will not have a sense of humor. Gosh, the world of robots will be literally so boring. So, to all comedians: your time is now! Stay hilariously amusing, because The Future is Fun!

Michio Kaku even recommends that robots should not be programmed for laughter because robots can’t differentiate between “laughing at” and “laughing with”. In addition, there are so many nuances of humor – ironic, angry, entertaining, etc- that robots don’t know to make the subtle differences. Moreover, the sense of humor suppose to anticipate the future, and the laugh comes when the comedian gives an alternative unexpected future. But, robots can’t do that. 

Humour is linked to context, background knowledge, which is hard for a computer to understand. Computers look for patterns, but comedy is close to pattern but at the same time out-of-the pattern in order to be edgy.  Seriously, not even in science fiction, there were no funny robots. Of course, robots are able to tell jokes, if jokes are taken from joke-data-base. But, well, not the way comedians would do it. In addition, robots will not be able to get jokes the way we do (actually, what’s the point to laugh with a not-funny machine?). 

Still afraid of losing your job? Get quickly into comedy, creative-funny writing, because Humor makes us humans really special. And remember, my creative friend: May The Joke Be With You! 

And just thinking now: would it possible that 1st of April, The Fool’s Day, will become in the future a really special day, when we celebrate Our FUNmanity Day! 

Although, a comedian-scientist, Naomi Fitter, has achieved some progress in 2020- She co-developed Jon The Robot, which seems to make people laugh and Jon understands timing – he hears the laughter and waits for it to die down before delivering a follow-up joke.