Why AI can’t make jokes and what I learned from building GiggleOhms

A few weeks ago, I came up with an idea to create an app with AI-generated jokes about hardware engineering. I wanted the jokes to have educational value as well, so time spent in the app didn’t feel wasted. Think of it as a 9gag-style platform, but with an educational twist. However, what seemed a simple task at first proved to be anything but.

First, I had to choose a format. In my ideal world, the app was able to generate memes — as in pictures with text on them. I quickly realized that none of the models available today are capable of that. Here’s an example of what I got:

I considered using existing meme templates, but ditched this idea because it would become boring quickly. In the end, I decided to go with jokes in text format and use images only as illustrations. And here’s where the main challenge started.

I spent hours tweaking prompts, only to conclude that AI-generated jokes are just… not funny.

“Why did the USB stick start a diet? It wanted to fit into a slimmer port!”

“Question-answer” was ChatGPT’s favorite joke format, and it used it even when I asked it not to. I also prompted that it not animate inanimate objects, but that didn’t work either. Then, I thought maybe the topic — hardware engineering — was too difficult to joke about. No, AI is equally bad at joking about any topic:

“Why did the personal brand apply for a library card? It wanted to check out its own narrative!”

I tried to use recommendations from stand-up comedians to teach Chat GPT about humor: What makes a joke funny, what types of jokes can be used, how to structure a joke, and what constitutes a setup and a punchline. Despite all the efforts, many jokes were mediocre at best, and it became clear that humor requires more than just clever wordplay.

When you tell a joke, you rely on shared knowledge, timing, and sometimes even a bit of absurdity. Humor is subjective, deeply cultural, and often context-dependent. AI, however, processes language in a much more literal way. It doesn’t have the intuitive grasp of irony or the subtle nuances that make a joke land. AI can analyze patterns in data, but understanding puns, cultural references, and why a joke is funny in general requires more than just pattern recognition.

Working on this app, I felt both disappointed and relieved at the same time. I expected that with a good prompt, the jokes would be much funnier. On the other hand, this helped me realize one more time that not everything in the world — at least for now — can be done with artificial intelligence, and that people have unique skills that AI can’t match.

I decided to publish GiggleOhms anyway, with the jokes as funny as they could get given the circumstances. I know now that AI is bad at humor, and this is what makes me laugh when I use it. If you’re a hardware engineer, I hope it’ll make you smile. Let me know your thoughts!