Can AI help you get more laughs than The New Yorker’s cartoonists?

The captions co-authored with AI were frequently rated funnier than those written by novices without the tool, the study found. However, experienced cartoonists and writers still have an edge over the machines.

More than half, 105 out of the 200 original cartoon captions from The New Yorker were deemed funnier than the jokes written with the help of AI.

“The AI tool helps people be significantly funnier, but more importantly, it may be a cure for writer’s block,� said Anusha Withana, one of the study’s authors and a lecturer at Sydney University’s School of Computer Science.

The study comes as large numbers of workers are given access to a new generation of AI tools designed as “co-pilots� to help them complete tasks like writing emails, summarising documents and note-taking in meetings.

Dr Withana who described himself as a “technology optimist� said fears that AI would eliminate workers’ jobs were overblown and that humans would learn to work alongside the new technology.

“AI is there to help people, not replace them,� he said.

Outside the formal study, the researchers also asked ChatGPT to come up with captions for some of the cartoons but were underwhelmed with the results.

“We found yes, it can generate a caption, but it’s a bit dry,� Dr Withana said.

“The AI and human working together was always better than asking AI to do something mediocre.�

How it works

The study is underpinned by appropriate incongruity theory, which suggests that humour arises from the unexpected or surprising, but only if it is still perceived as appropriate within the given context.

The AI model analyses the words in a description of the cartoon and generates incongruous words – the most odd or unusual words that still make sense in the context – as hints for the aspiring cartoonist.

For example, when presented with the phrase “a judge washing dishes in court� the “humour generation assistant tool� suggested the writer draw inspiration from words like judge, dishes, court, shoes, house, punishments, crimes, grandmother and chef.

Participants writing the captions said the AI tool helped them to get started, piece together humorous narratives and funny elements, and to come up with new ideas.

User ratings of the AI assistant suggest that novices have found the tool more helpful in humorous caption writing if they are non-native English speakers.

Born in Sri Lanka, Dr Withana said he and his team conceived the tool to help non-native speakers understand humour in their new language.