Today — August 16th — turns out to be noted for a great many things. For example, it is:

National Bratwurst Day. I could certainly sink my teeth into that one. A little sauerkraut, a bit of mustard, some nice fried potatoes on the side, and three or four Tums tablets for dessert, and you’ve got the perfect meal.

National Airborne Day. Who do they think I am — the Flying Nun? It does look like fun, though.

National Roller Coaster Day. Pass. I rode on one — just once — and it wasn’t half the size of today’s monster rides. That was enough. Screamed my bloody head off, made a complete fool of myself . . . but at least I didn’t throw up that Bratwurst.

National Rum Day. That’s better. A nice Planter’s Punch goes down so smoothly on a hot summer day.

Hawaii Statehood Day. Happy birthday, and mahalo for being our 50th state.

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Now, those are all great fun. But the one that caught my attention was:

Tell a Joke Day. Because just yesterday, I happened to run across an article on “How AI is helping comedians write jokes.”

I kid you not. They — those diabolical Dr. Frankensteins who are bending our minds with all of the pictures and videos that look so real, but not quite — are now trying to convince us that AI has a sense of humor.

Here’s a sample of what you get if you ask AI to write a political joke:

“Why did the politician bring a ladder to the debate?” “To make sure he could reach new heights with his promises!” [Megan Lawton, BBC News, August 15, 2024.]

Nice try, folks. And it does exhibit a certain understanding of the subject matter. But is it going to reduce an audience to side-splitting guffaws? Sorry, no . . . not even an appreciative chuckle. It can clear a room in 30 seconds flat, though.

However, it will never compete with “A priest, a minister and a rabbi walked into a bar . . .”

Still, according to Canadian comedian Anesti Danelis, “that doesn’t mean there is no room for AI in comedy.” [BBC, id.]

It seems that comedians have been experimenting with AI technology to brainstorm ideas and even to write scripts. And Danelis has even asked ChatGPT to write a show for him. He has been performing the result, which he calls “Artificially Intelligent,” throughout this summer.

He admits that there were some “rubbish” jokes, but found the AI tool useful for brainstorming. He said he asked it to “write me five songs about bisexual dilemmas, or being an immigrant child, and it gave me ideas that I would have never thought of.” [BBC, id.]

What surprised him most was AI’s understanding of how to devise a show:

“I told it to make me a running order, and it explained where every song should go and why, and it made total sense. I was surprised by how much it could explain the reasoning behind it.” [BBC, id.]

Now, those of you who know me at all, also know that I get a bad case of the jitters when anyone starts talking about the latest hi-tech developments. As much as I still love R2D2 and C3PO, and still add a Roomba vacuum to my Christmas wish list every year, I am not ready to accept a world in which I don’t know whether my next-door neighbors are real people or someone’s virtual representations.

And then it dawned on me: even AI, as brilliant as it is, had to be created by real, flesh-and-blood human beings. Without us, they cease to exist . . . if they ever did.

And Anesti Danelis is the first to admit that his comedy show still relies on his performance. Without the funny guy delivering the lines and endearing himself to the audience through the strength of his own personality, the funniest routine will still fall flat. As Danelis says:

“I learned through the process that human creativity can’t be replicated or replaced, and in the end about 20% of the show was pure AI, and the other 80% was a mix.” [BBC, id.]

And therein lies our salvation. Because without our human brain power and imagination, there would be no AI. And those bots still don’t have feelings — we can make them smile, or frown, or even cry, but they don’t know why they’re doing it.

I still have one concern, though: If the day ever comes that those AI beings start recreating humans . . .

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/16/24