Brent Rose, a WIRED journalist who’s never done stand-up comedy, tested out jokes told by Siri, Alex, Cortana, and Google Home on an audience at an open mic in Los Angeles.
The results were about as cringeworthy as you’d think. Though, it wasn’t the worst outing I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure I’ve gone through two or three open mics where I’ve registered 0.0 sec and 0 db on the laugh meter. The best feeling in the world has to be when a joke you’ve poured your heat and soul into has zero effect on a group of people.
The age of the digital assistant is upon us and as these AI helpers attempt to interface with humans companies like Apple and Google are trying anything to make their interactions more organic. Brent Rose takes Google Assistant, Amazon Echo, Microsoft Cortana and Apple’s Siri out for the ultimate test drive; which AI has the best sense of humor? How will a human audience respond to a stand-up set written entirely by smart gadgets?
I actually enjoyed some of the jokes, but I’m more willing to laugh than most. The worst laugh is the singular “HA!” That’s like a dagger through the jugular. It’s a thousand times worse than Nelson’s HA ha.
Artificial Intelligence is essentially the devil. We’ve all seen Ex Machina and the Terminator movies. Why are we encouraging AI to be more like humans? Because we secretly hate each other and want to self-destruct?
Oh, Siri’s not funny. GOOD! I don’t need Siri doing stand-up comedy specials on Netflix. I need Siri to answer a goddamn question correctly. I know I mumble, but I can’t get my “intelligent” software assistant to answer one inquiry, yet Google Home is over here comprehending thick Scottish accents…
Neal Lynch 