Scientist Attempts to Teach AI What Is Funny

That objective is a difficult one because currently, artificial intelligence functions well when given specific rules. However, since human interactions, particularly humorous ones, follow no rules, it is complicated to set guidelines for computers.

“But when there are no clear rules – and there are no clear rules in human communication – what are we going to tell the computer to do, find rules that don’t exist?” Rayz said. 

“Whenever the box doesn’t have clear outlines, it’s turning into a royal mess. You can’t find enough examples that are going to describe every possible communication scenario.”

Delivery, context, and emotion

Rayz work essentially involves trying to translate what is second nature for humans into a form that a computer can process. Questions of delivery, context, and emotion need to be interpreted and fed to artificial intelligence in a way that allows it to assess them properly.

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Her research, however, is not confined to humor. Rather humor takes the shape of the "perfect litmus test for computer-human interaction." If a system can recognize a joke, it can also identify more complex expressions and emotions such as those involving sarcasm and irony.

"Artificial intelligence should be able to handle more natural conversation and understand when you are joking and when you are serious,” she said. 

“If you are giving a command in a sarcastic manner, the computer needs to know it does not need to follow that command."

Rayz takes inspiration for her work from everyday circumstances. She tries to incorporate all types of human interactions into her algorithms.

“You can just sit at a café with coffee and observe people and their reactions and modify your algorithms in your mind,” she said. 

“There are some types of humor I hear and think, ‘Really? You can do better than that.’ But, in conversations especially, you hear a response or hear someone say something, you think ‘Oh wow, that’s complex. I need to incorporate that.’