Robots have been making humans laugh for years. Long before Bender became a fan favorite on Futurama , Rosey the Robot was throwing shade on The Jetsons, R2D2 and C3P0 were bringing slapstick vibes between lightsaber fights in Star Wars—a nd HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey with those pod bay door pranks? Classic. So it’s not surprising that so many expected superhuman humor right out of the gate when ChatGPT was launched. Some tried prompting it to mimic the styles of stand-up comedians. Others tried performing bits it had written. So far, chatbots are proving impressive at puns and dad jokes, but not yet grokking the nuances of topical humor and cultural satire. Some say humor is the “ last frontier ” for AI. If that’s true, what will it take to get there? Dr. Julia Taylor Rayz is a Professor of Computer and Information Technology at...