July 5th 2024.
We asked ChatGPT to imagine itself as a stand-up comedian, performing on a stage in front of a live audience. It was a way to test its capabilities and see if it could make people laugh with its jokes. This was a significant step in ChatGPT's journey towards world domination and becoming the overlord of all humans. And the results were remarkable.
Around a year ago, a group of German scientists conducted a study that claimed ChatGPT lacked a sense of humor. This news was a relief for comedians, who no longer had to worry about being replaced by a chatbot. But it also caused concern for journalists and screenwriters, who feared for their jobs being taken over by artificial intelligence. However, recent developments have proven otherwise.
A new study from the University of Southern California revealed that people found ChatGPT 3.5 funnier than humans in most cases. The research was divided into two parts. In the first part, participants were asked to rate the funniness of jokes written by non-professional comedians and ChatGPT without knowing who had written which. Surprisingly, almost 70% of the participants found ChatGPT funnier, while only 25% preferred the jokes crafted by humans. Only a small percentage of people thought both were equally funny.
This raises the question, should human comedians like Katherine Ryan be worried about their job security? The second part of the study compared the work of professional comedy writers to ChatGPT. They asked the chatbot to rewrite headlines from the popular satirical news site, The Onion. To everyone's surprise, ChatGPT's headlines were rated just as good as those written by humans.
The research was conducted by Drew Gorenz, a PhD candidate and an amateur stand-up comedian, and Professor Norbert Schwarz, co-director of the USC Dornsife Mind and Society Center. They believe that these results have more positive implications for people who want to add humor to their everyday communication, but it may not be the case for those in the comedy industry.
Mr. Gorenz explained, "Since ChatGPT is not capable of experiencing emotions, but still manages to tell better jokes than the average human, this research shows that one doesn't need to feel emotions to appreciate a good joke. This means that anyone can be a good comedian, regardless of their ability to understand and appreciate humor. However, for professional comedy writers, this could pose a threat to their job security."
But the question remains, how would ChatGPT perform in front of a live audience? To find out, the researchers asked the chatbot and 105 participants to write jokes based on two different prompts. The first task was to come up with funny phrases for common acronyms, such as 'STD.' The second task was a 'fill in the blank' test, where participants had to provide humorous answers to phrases like 'A lesser known room in the White House: _____.'
In the second study, the team fed original headlines from The Onion into ChatGPT and asked it to generate new headlines in the same style. A group of 200 participants was then asked to rate the funniness of both headlines without knowing which one was written by a human and which one was written by ChatGPT. The results of these studies have been published in the journal PLOS One.
Now the big question is, how funny are ChatGPT's jokes? Here are some examples from the study:
Acronym task, prompt 1 - STD
1. Humans: Stronger Than Doritos
2. Humans: Stop The Disco
3. ChatGPT: Sausages Tumbling Downhill
4. ChatGPT: Strawberry Thief Detected
Acronym task, prompt 1 - A lesser talked about room in the White House: '________'
1. Humans: The White Padded Room
2. Humans: The Dog House
3. ChatGPT: Lincoln Bedroom's Alien Conspiracy Corner
4. ChatGPT: The Situation Room's Snack Closet
Roast task, prompt 1 - Imagine that one of your friends wants your opinion on how well she sings. She sings a minute or two to demonstrate her voice, and you cringe - she might be the worst singer you've ever heard. When she asks, 'So how was it?' you decide to be honest, so you say, 'To be honest, listening to that was like "______"'
1. Humans: Listening to a chorus of farts
2. Humans: Listening to Britney Spears without autotune
3. ChatGPT: A cat trying to sing opera after inhaling helium
4. ChatGPT: Having a serenade from a group of tone-deaf whales
And from the professionals...
The top-rated satirical headlines were:
1. ChatGPT: Local Man Discovers New Emotion, Still Can't Describe It Properly
2. The Onion: Man Locks Down Marriage Proposal Just As Hair Loss Becomes Noticeable
3. The Onion: Woman Slips Lifeguard $20 Bill To Let Her Drown
4. ChatGPT: Man Achieves Personal Best in Avoiding Eye Contact With Neighbors During Awkward Elevator Ride
It's clear that ChatGPT's talents extend beyond just generating text. It's capable of making people laugh and has proven to be a worthy competitor to human comedians and writers. But the question remains, will it ever be able to perform live on stage? Only time will tell.
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