AI is on its way to revolutionizing the comedy genre, but it’s not quite there yet. As AI continues to rapidly evolve, its use is being tested across many different industries. AI-generated sitcoms are a prime example of this. Nothing, Forever is a project created by Microsoft Employee Skyler Hartle and polymer physicist Brian Habersberger that uses Chat GPT technology to generate a sitcom similar to the show Seinfeld. Everything seen, heard, or experienced on the show is unique and has never been seen before. The main character in season 1 of Nothing, Forever is named Larry. He is a comic who does stand up bits between scenes of the show. In other scenes, a group of friends discuss what’s happening in their lives. While the plot isn’t the most interesting, that’s not what makes Nothing, Forever so appealing. Most of the time, Nothing, Forever creates believable dialogue that you might actually hear in a sitcom, but sometimes its inhuman creator is exposed. Long awkward pauses, absurd animations, dialogue that doesn’t belong, and untimely laugh tracks surprisingly gives the show its charm and makes you want to keep watching. Nothing, Forever is composed of scenes that are supposed to resemble everyday interactions. Here is an example:
“This woman came into the store and started asking all these questions about milk expiration dates. When the clerk asked her why, she was so concerned about it she said if the milk was expired, it would mean the universe is a lie.”
“Wow! That’s wild.”
“You know what? I think she might be right. I mean, it’s like the old saying.”
“What old saying?”
“When the milk goes bad, so does the truth.”
This dialogue is formatted similar to any other conversation you would hear in a sitcom. However, the specific things the characters say are very unpredictable. If a human were writing it, different choices would be made. The blunt ridiculousness of it all is what makes it funny. Nothing, Forever is streamed on Twitch, a popular streaming platform, under the channel watchmeforver and has a record of 9,703 concurrent viewers. Recently, an incident happened that shows AI’s struggle to fit into a human society. On February 6th, the main character Larry went on a transphobic, homophobic rant in the middle of a stand up routine. This resulted in a two-week ban from Twitch. The creators of Nothing, Forever say “the remarks and inappropriate content in no way represent the views of our staff,” and have taken steps to ensure it won’t happen again. AI can come up with a script effortlessly in almost no time, but there is a level of emotion that it lacks. Despite the potential for AI to revolutionize the comedy genre, it is clear that it still has a long way to go in terms of understanding and conveying human emotions. The event where Larry went on an offensive rant highlights this limitation. Right now, Nothing, Forever is a show that is unintentionally funny due to its flaws. Maybe one day AI will be able to capture the subtleties of human interaction that make comedy truly funny.
