It’s been a nice run, humanity, but our last and final unique function as Homo sapiens has been officially covered by computers.
Thanks to the University of Washington, computers can now recognize and respond to set-ups for double entendres, appending the popular quip “that’s what she said” where appropriate. Using several source of linguistic information, program can now decide whether “that’s what she said” will be funny, probably with greater accuracy that you. Forbes breaks down the (computer) science:
The system the researchers used to program their “TWSS” program is called Double Entendre via Noun Transfer, or DEviaNT for short. It’s basic problem to solve is to be given a sentence, then determine whether it’s funny if you add “That’s what she said” to the end of it. To “train” the computer how to identify the right sentences, they used twssstories.com, a repository of user-submitted “TWSS” jokes, and non-entendre text from sites such as Wikiquote.
In testing, DEviaNT correctly identified opportunities to make the somewhat-tired joke about 72% of the time. Researchers believe that with a better sample set, the program could put out at a tremendously higher rate… kind of like your mother.
