👍 Is AI Already Better Than Humans at Humor?
Does artificial intelligence have a sense of humor? Last year's Google DeepMind study showed that AI can even write stand-up comedy lines, although they are not always funny.
Algorithms do better with memes, researchers from Sweden and Germany recently found. They decided to find out who wrote funnier captions to viral memes—humans or AI?
In the experiment, 224 participants (average age 29 years) competed with GPT-4o in creating memes. The first group came up with meme captions on their own, the second collaborated with an LLM model, and in the third group AI autonomously generated memes.
The memes were rated by humor, creativity, and shareability. Memes entirely from the AI (№ 2, 5) scored higher than both human-only (№ 1, 3, 7) and human-AI collaborative memes (№4, 6) in all areas on average.
"I regret to announce that the meme Turing Test has been passed," Wharton University professor and AI scientist Ethan Mollick wrote in X.
Opinions in the comments were mixed. Some users dismissed all memes as unfunny and outdated. Others agreed with the scientist, pointing out that most people often struggle to make really funny jokes.
😁 AI humor is not bad, but not brilliant?
Still, the funniest memes in the experiment were those created entirely by humans. At the same time, memes co-created AI received high marks for creativity and potential for reposts.
The researchers attribute the AI's success to its training on vast Internet data, including popular jokes. Therefore, AI-generated memes are good but not brilliant. Algorithms help humans come up with more jokes—but not better jokes.
"While AI can boost productivity and create content that appeals to a broad audience, human creativity remains crucial for content that connects on a deeper level," the study authors conclude.
More on the topic:
✍️ People Prefer AI-Generated Poetry to the Classics. But They Wouldn't Admit It
