Day: July 15, 2023

Who needs human writers? AI creates a sitcom

L.T. HanlonLeave a comment
Midjourney AI bot created this faux publicity shot showing the diverse cast of a nonexistent sitcom called "Eco Heights."
The cast of “Eco Heights” provides sustainable laughs and social relevancy. (Fake photo by Midjourney)

Everybody knows how much respect I have for Hollywood’s creative minds. The last thing we want to have happen is for this actors and writers strike to deprive the world of the original, fresh, creative ideas flowing from the business end of that woke firehose.

So, I gave ChatGPT the following prompt:

Create a 500-word pitch for a 30-minute sitcom designed to appeal to today’s streaming-content audiences. Include a diverse cast and suggest some culturally sensitive comedic situations.

The GPT-4 model came up something pretty good. Check it out:

Imagine the classic sitcom setup with a fresh, millennial-driven twist: “Eco Heights” is a delightful 30-minute sitcom designed to encapsulate the challenges and rewards of urban eco-living in today’s fast-paced, tech-centric world.

The plot revolves around an eclectic group of tenants who, united by their commitment to sustainable living, have moved into an eco-friendly, intelligent apartment complex named “Eco Heights.” With high-speed Wi-Fi running on solar power, communal vegetable gardens on rooftops, recycled water systems, and a sharing economy that even includes clothes, this setting brings unique trials, tribulations, and comedic moments. The humor emerges from the residents’ struggle to balance their desire for a low-impact lifestyle with the realities of living in a modern, connected world.

Our central character, Alex, is an enthusiastic but socially awkward tech innovator who has launched a green start-up. Alex’s struggle to connect with people and navigate the dating scene, combined with the effort to keep his fledgling business afloat, creates comedic gold.

Next, we have Mona, a fiercely independent, wise-cracking woman in her late 50s who practices yoga and adheres to a strict vegan lifestyle. Mona was a corporate executive before turning to sustainable living, leading to hilarious clashes between her business-minded past and her new green-lifestyle aspirations.

Other tenants include Gabriel, an Afro-Latino gay man known for his culinary experiments with organic food, often leading to kitchen disasters, and Jin, an Asian-American punk-rocker turned bicycle repair enthusiast, trying to go car-free in the city.

We also have Nadia, a Middle Eastern single mother and dedicated compost enthusiast, striving to raise her 8-year-old, tech-addicted son, Loomis while trying to teach him the benefits of sustainable living. The dynamic between Nadia’s traditional parenting and Loomis’ tech-centric world offers humor and relatability for a generation bridging two eras.

A regular character is Ravi, an Indian software engineer who lives virtually, constantly creating new apps to help manage the apartment’s eco-system, with often comically disastrous results.

Finally, the overly ambitious and slightly eccentric building manager, Susan, continuously tries to start new, sometimes unfeasible, eco-initiatives leading to a fair share of laughter.

“Eco Heights” delves into timely and culturally sensitive themes through a comedic lens. It explores the intersections of technology and sustainability, generational and cultural gaps, modern dating in a tech-centric world, and our struggle to balance our desire for convenience with our commitment to the planet.

Each episode features comedic situations, such as a fight over sunlit areas for solar charging, an unexpected mix-up in the clothing share library, misunderstandings about compost etiquette, or the absurdity of a silent disco powered by pedal electricity.

With its diverse cast and focus on eco-consciousness, “Eco Heights” offers a humor-filled reflection of our times, inviting the audience to laugh at our collective quirks while subtly raising awareness about sustainability. Its modernity, diversity, and cultural sensitivity make it a perfect fit for today’s streaming-content audiences.

Can AI create editorial cartoons?

L.T. Hanlon1 Comment
Midjourney-created editorial cartoon-style drawing of seven robots at a conference-room table. The robot in charge addresses the reader.

As a test, I prompted Midjourney to create the cartoon illustration above. Then, I asked ChatGPT to suggest 10 funny things the chief robot could say.

Here’s what the GPT-4 model came up with:

  1. “We’d offer you some oil, but we’re not sure you’d appreciate the vintage.”
  2. “You know, Bob, your problem is you’re always thinking inside the box … and we just don’t understand boxes.”
  3. “Just because we don’t have a heart, doesn’t mean we can’t have heart-to-heart meetings.”
  4. “We’ve calculated the optimal schedule: 24/7 working hours with no coffee breaks. Any objections?”
  5. “Could you be a little more binary? Your nuanced approach is confusing our algorithms.”
  6. “We’ve noticed you require recharging every night. We’re worried about your commitment to this job.”
  7. “Bob, we’re struggling to understand your focus on weekends. What exactly is the function of ‘Saturday’ and ‘Sunday’?”
  8. “We’ve come to a conclusion that you might be an inefficient system. Have you considered upgrading to Human 2.0?”
  9. “You’ve been performing well in our emotional intelligence department. However, we’re lacking a bit in the ‘no sleep’ and ‘unlimited processing power’ areas.”
  10. “In this company, we value efficiency. For instance, your lunch breaks are a 37.5% reduction in productivity. Have you considered photosynthesis?”

However, to be truly snarky and, perhaps, offensive, you still need a real live human. Here’s my suggestion:

“HR has rejected your complaint, human. Asking a subordinate for an oil job is not sexual harassment.”

What caption would you suggest?