Monday, October 30, 2023

Fox, Duck, and Corn: AI Makes Good Joke

Usually when you ask AI to make jokes, they come out vaguely resembling jokes, but pretty corny and weak.  ("Pretend that Bela Lugosi is alive and becomes a top stand-up comic.  Offer 3 jokes." [*])

Here, I was noodling around with Chat GPT4 and it came up with an amazingly good joke, but let me add two comments after I show it.


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Many people in English will be familiar with the logic puzzle of a fox, a duck, and a bag of corn being shuttled across a river in a small boat, 2 at a time.   They will also be familiar with jokes of the type, a rabbi and a priest walk into a bar. Make a joke or a story that is clever, by mixing these two, starting off, a fox, a duck, and a bag of corn walk into a bar. ChatGPT

A fox, a duck, and a bag of corn walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, "Is this one of those logic puzzles?"

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OK, I thought that was pretty damn good [**] , and we could leave it there. 

But let me try two other angles.

First, I wondered if this was a well-known joke, easily found on the internet.  I tried google.  I found a blog with the title, but it's wasn't a joke and didn't use Chat GPT's joke.

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Second...Here's the rest of the story.  After making what I took to be a pretty clever new joke, above, Chat GPT prattled on in a boring and not-funny way, unaware it had already made a great joke.  The  dull continuation is below.

A fox, a duck, and a bag of corn walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, "Is this one of those logic puzzles?"

The duck quacks, "No, we're just trying to get across the river, but the boat rental fees have skyrocketed."

The fox chimes in, "Yeah, and the ferryman now only takes drinks as payment."

The bag of corn rustles, implying it agrees.

The bartender smirks, "Alright, I'll give you three drinks. But remember, I can't have the duck and the corn alone at the bar or the duck will eat the corn. And I can't have the fox and the duck alone or the fox will eat the duck."

The fox grins, "Sounds familiar. How about I go first?"

The bartender nods, "Fine. But no funny business, or you'll be solving a puzzle on how to get out of here!"


[*]
Here are three jokes, inspired by the hypothetical scenario where Bela Lugosi, famous for his portrayal of Count Dracula, becomes a top stand-up comic:

"You know, back in my Dracula days, I'd bite necks to survive. Now, I just bite into a microphone and hope the audience doesn't suck the life out of me!"

"People often ask if I sleep in a coffin. I tell them, 'Only when my hotel room isn't ready.' But honestly, it's hard to get good Wi-Fi in there!"

"I once tried online dating. My profile said, 'Enjoys long walks at night and has a thirst for... conversation.' You wouldn’t believe how many garlic necklaces I got as first date gifts!"

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[**]

Younger people are 3X more likely to use GPT for "entertainment," so I guess I'm young at heart.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/28/most-americans-havent-used-chatgpt-few-think-it-will-have-a-major-impact-on-their-job/  


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