Comedy and AI: “Man-made” is the new “organic”

2023-05-04 14:09:16

Opinion Comedy and AI

“Man-made” is the new “organic”

Stand: 04.05.2023 | Reading time: 2 minutes

Late-Night-Host Stephen Colbert

Quelle: CBS via Getty Images/CBS Photo Archive

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The strike by Hollywood writers is also affecting the comedy world: Late-night superstars like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon are no longer getting jokes. Chat GPT could be the solution for that. But the generated sayings lack more than just humor.

Er is the noble discipline of late-night shows: the opening monologue. With him, hosts like Stephen Colbert – smart, sweet with irony – and Jimmy Fallon – teeny silly – get on their evening programs. Of course, Colbert and Fallon don’t write their lyrics themselves. They are written for them by professional joke writers. But not anymore. The comedy writers let their work rest.

The strike by the writers’ union is affecting not only series and films but also the comedy world. The broadcasters have already announced that they will show repeats for the time being. A BBC reporter has now asked Chat-GPT for opening monologues. The result is mediocre to bad jokes that come quite close in style to their role models. For example, if an AI Colbert says, “Big news today, folks! President Biden has announced that he will run for re-election. The man who once said he didn’t want to run for president because of his age now says, ‘Age is just a number, and so is 78!’”

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The dispute between the union, studios and streaming services is not just about money, but also about regulating the use of AI. The artists fear plagiarism and that even large studios will soon be able to generate screenplays and jokes by machine.

Does the viewer care if their conversation is computer generated or man made? After all, humans crave connection with other humans, not machines. And the most beautiful way of being connected is still art: literature, music, films, comedy. Future people will ask for a label. The “organic” label will be followed by the “man-made” label, or “AI-free” – created by happy writers with enough outlets. Maybe there will be a separate subscription model for human content. A little more expensive – but at least it leaves you with a good feeling.