Researchers at the University of Victoria are working to help artificial intelligence understand and use irony, one of the cornerstones of humor.
Lecturer in Applied Linguistics Stephen Skalicki received a Marsden grant to model the properties and patterns that constitute irony. Irony is notoriously difficult to define.
“What I want to do is teach that concept to artificial intelligence,” Skaliky said.
Tech companies are under commercial pressure to improve their AI’s understanding of the sarcasm and sarcasm that frequently appear in social media posts and customer reviews.
Example: “This is the best” can be either heartfelt praise or biting sarcasm, depending on the context. AI currently struggles to make this distinction.
Currently, only humans can deploy irony effectively, but AI is beginning to recognize irony as well.
Skallicki said the challenge lies in the elusive nature of irony.
“The problem, or rather the disconnect, is that irony is very difficult to define,” he says.
Irony also figures prominently in political commentary and is one of the cornerstones of comedy.
Comedian Tim Butt, who has been nominated for two Billy T Awards, said he was not threatened by the possibility of AI mastering sarcasm, but admitted he had doubts about the concept.
“They don’t come from experience, from human experience,” Bhatt said of the jokes created by AI. He described himself as very sarcastic and good at being sarcastic.
Skallicki also said people may not be ready to get up close and personal with comedians over AI-generated humor. But he said there is commercial pressure for AI to recognize sarcastic language when it collects human data.
The researchers acknowledged that their study raises philosophical questions.
“Do I want an AI to understand sarcasm? I don’t know how I feel about that,” Skallicki said.
“People are inherently feeling more alone and isolated than ever before,” Butt said.
“I actually think we need to be very careful about the human things that bind us together.”
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