Google DeepMind Thinks LLMs Can Help Comedians Script Better [Video]

Researchers at Google DeepMind recently released a research paper, “A Robot Walks into a Bar: Can Language Models Serve as Creativity Support Tools for Comedy?,” that investigates the intersection of AI and comedy and the capability of LLMs to support comedians in writing humorous material. 

For the study, workshops with 20 comedians at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and additional online sessions were conducted. The methodology included a collaborative comedy writing session using LLMs, followed by the Creativity Support Index (CSI) questionnaire and focus group discussions to get detailed feedback from the comics.

Participants described various use cases for LLMs in their writing practice, including as a conversational brainstorming partner, critic, translator, choreographic assistant, and historical guru. However, many also mentioned the poor quality of generated outputs, and the amount of human effort required to achieve a satisfying result.

Some participants described LLM-generated outputs as “bland” or “generic”. “AI generated material has a lack of agency,” said …