LLMs generate slop because they avoid surprises by design
LLMs suck at comedy, art, journalism, research, and science for the same fundamental reason Dan Fabulich 5 min read · 3 days ago 3 days ago -- Listen Share
Have you ever asked an LLM to tell you a joke? They’re rarely funny at all; they never make you actually laugh.
There’s a deep reason for this, and I think it has serious implications for the limitations of LLMs, not just in comedy, but in art, journalism, research, and science.
Jokes are surprising, but inevitable in hindsight
If you had to explain the idea of “jokes” to a space alien with no understanding of the idea of humor, you’d explain that a joke is surprising, but inevitable in hindsight.
If you can guess the punchline, the joke won’t be funny. But the punchline also has to be inevitable in hindsight. When you hear the punchline, it has to make you say, “Ah, yes, I should have thought of that myself.”
If, once you hear the punchline, you can’t understand why the punchline was inevitable in hindsight, then we say that you didn’t “get” the joke. The teller can then explain the joke, giving the listener the context to understand why the punchline was inevitable. The joke’s explanation may be enlightening, even surprising in itself, but the joke won’t be funny at that point.
If the joke doesn’t make sense even in hindsight, then it’s a bad joke; nobody “gets” the joke.
You can’t satisfy everybody
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