AI Wrote a Joke About Marie Antoinette's Beheading. The Audience Laughed. We're All Doomed

"It's got the perfect cut – just like her head." That's what AI responded when asked about Marie Antoinette's diamond. I laughed. Then I questioned everything.

Comedy writer Joe Toplyn spent decades crafting jokes for Letterman and Leno. Now his AI tool Witscript beats him at his own game. In a North Hollywood laugh-off, audiences couldn't distinguish between Toplyn's jokes and his AI's, both scored equally on laugh meters. The kicker? Toplyn hand-picked the best from dozens of AI attempts. Even AI needs a human editor to kill.

The comedy apocalypse accelerates: AI now writes Onion headlines indistinguishable from human satire. Social psychology researcher Drew Gorenz of the University of Southern California uses it for "humor-bragging" in job interviews and punny email signoffs like "Brie in touch" for wine events. Meanwhile, loneliness epidemic sufferers seek AI companions who can crack jokes. We're outsourcing our humanity one punchline at a time.

But here's where it gets dark: When researchers asked AI to make images "funnier," it replaced average people with obese ones wearing oversized glasses. Gender and racial minorities vanished. The algorithm learned our worst impulses, that marginalized bodies equal comedy. As Toplyn notes, this reflects "horrible people in our society who think that just because you're fat, it means you're funny."

The existential punchline: AI generates humor without understanding why it's funny. No emotional stakes, no social risk, no ability to retract with "just joking!" Computational linguist Christian Hempelmann blows a raspberry when asked if AI will achieve genuine humor. Jokes were supposed to require "all the thinking ability of a typical human." Turns out they're easier than driving a car.

• $5.99/month for AI-generated comedy via Witscript
• People find jokes 40% less funny when told AI wrote them
• AI comedy perpetuates every bias we pretend we've overcome

When machines make us laugh at jokes they'll never understand, who's really the punchline?

Read the full article on Undark.

----

💡 We're entering a world where intelligence is synthetic, reality is augmented, and the rules are being rewritten in front of our eyes.

Staying up-to-date in a fast-changing world is vital. That is why I have launched Futurwise; a personalized AI platform that transforms information chaos into strategic clarity. With one click, users can bookmark and summarize any article, report, or video in seconds, tailored to their tone, interests, and language. Visit Futurwise.com to get started for free!