Blueberry: Robot Designed to Make You Laugh!
As our methods of learning are evolving and changing every day, we have Artificial Intelligence which is offering a lot to us these days. AI is now assisting all our actions, like predicting texts on your smartphones, keeping your home secure, operating your vehicles, and a lot more one can imagine! We have seen AI evolving in different areas and sectors, and the time has come when AI takes over comedy.
A trio of AI researchers, based in the University of Alberta, Canada, were keen on finding out if they can train a robot to perform improv comedy by adding pop-culture references into its system. An Artificial Intelligence researcher and improv comedian, Kory Mathewson, designed an algorithm to shape his newly found invention, Blueberry. He used the lines and dialogues adapted from hundreds and thousands of Hollywood movies to train it.
Blueberry was created by Kory Mathewson, Riley Dawson, and Piotr Mirowski. It runs on a software named ALEX (Artificial Language Experiment). On being asked what made Kory think of this combination, he mentioned that he has been doing improv for 12 years and he was keen on exploring if he can merge AI with comedy.
By adding pop-culture references and Hollywood movie dialogues into its system, it seems that Kory wanted to train the robot using both modern and classic cultures.
Mathewson, in an interview with Global News, said, “I trained the system on a bunch of dialogue from movies because like improv actors, the robot can pull ideas, thoughts, and quotes from movies, and then piece them together in certain ways.”
Then, the team thought of testing their creation in front of a live audience on stage, at the Fringe. “It went really well. The critical review was very positive. We sold out shows, we had a lot of great audience feedback throughout the shows,” Mathewson said.
Audience members were invited during the show to interact with Blueberry. Kory, while talking about the entire experience of the show, told Global News, “We had guests, every night of the Fringe and every show we’ve done, we’ve brought in improvisers to work with the system and they loved doing it. It’s like a world of inspiration for them.”
While being one of the most technically challenging shows at the Fringe, Audiences described the AI-Human show as ‘compelling’. There is a lot to be perfected yet, and a lot of risks are involved with Blueberry. It can’t be predicted what the robot will say and if it will make any sense, but Kory sums up his show with Blueberry, at the Fringe, as a ‘perfect marriage’. The audience was intrigued by blueberry and a connection was formed.
On being asked about testing Blueberry in front of a live audience, Mathewson responded, “I love improv, so it was a way to merge these two things that I love and test one with the other.”
Kory also expressed his surprise at the reaction of the audience. “I’m amazed at how amazed people are about robotics still. It feels so second nature to us in these types of labs because we sit with and experiment… but to see the joy that these kinds of systems bring to people and that moment of awed-ness, that awed look they give when we’re traipsing down the valley of uncertainty and unfamiliarity is so fun, so exciting.”
The team now plans to analyse its experience and audiences reaction towards Blueberry to study the system further. Drawing from all this feedback, the team will then work on their research and invention to publish later results.
There is constant talk of this threat that AI will soon dominate us, but with inventions like Blueberry, we are at least getting to see a more fun side of Artificial Intelligence. For the time being. :)
