[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-134616-en":3,"doc-seo-134616-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},134616,687207020761,"Oliver Hayes","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d",8,"Research & Report","Computational research and the case for taking humor seriously","Computational research clarifies how humor depends on complex abilities rather than simple verbal wit. Progress over two decades includes systems that produce jokes, detect and generate laughter, and model irony within social interaction. Stronger evaluations map both capabilities and boundaries, showing where specific skills have advanced and where unresolved problems remain. Matching humor’s pervasive, everyday presence across contexts is harder than handling self-contained episodes. Techniques require challenging data, extend beyond purely verbal media, and still often depend on human support for effective application.","Computational research and the case for taking humor seriously  \nCowie, R. (2023) . Computational research and the case for taking humor seriously. HUMOR: International  \nJournal of Humor Research, 36(2), 207-223 . [https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2023-0021](https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2023-0021)  \nPublished in:  \nHUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research  \nDocument Version:  \nPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of record  \nQueen's University Belfast-Research Portal:  \nLink to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research Portal  \nPublisher rights  \nCopyright 2023 The Authors.  \nThis is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.  \nGeneral rights  \nCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.  \nTake down policy  \nThe Research Portal is Queen's institutional repository that provides access to Queen's research output. Every effort has been made to ensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content in the Research Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, [please contact openaccess@qub.ac.uk](please contact openaccess@qub.ac.uk).  \nOpen Access  \nThis research has been made openly available by Queen's academics and its Open Research team. We would love to hear how access to this research benefits you.– Share your feedback with us: [http://go.qub.ac.uk/oa-feedback](http://go.qub.ac.uk/oa-feedback)  \n[Download date:20. Aug. 2026](Download date:20. Aug. 2026)  \nRoddy Cowie*  \nComputational research and the case for taking humor seriously  \n[https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2023-0021](https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2023-0021)  \nReceived January 28, 2020; accepted February 5, 2023; published online March 17, 2023  \nAbstract: Computational research underscores the complex abilities underlying humor. Two decades of work have achieved substantial progress in some areas, notably systems that make jokes; detecting and generating laughter; and using irony in interactions. Sophisticated evaluations clarify both strengths and limitations. The achievements illuminate specific abilities, but also expose unsolved problems. The way humor pervades life is harder to match than self-contained episodes. Learning techniques are powerful, but providing the data they need is daunting. The medium is no longer simply verbal, but other modalities present deep challenges, such seeing the humor in a situation. There are real applications, but the most striking still depend on human support. Achievements and limitations together underscore the scale of the challenges involved in understanding humor.  \nKeywords: artificial intelligence; humor; pervasive humor  \n1 Introduction  \nResearch fields can often make different kinds of contribution when they are viewed from different perspectives. This paper views computational research on humor from the perspective of an outsider, interested in computational research primarily for the light it sheds on human abilities.  \nFrom that perspective, one of the contributions that computational research often makes is to foster appreciation of abilities that are liable to be undervalued. The tendency to disrespect humor is well known. Traditions going back to Plato portray it as an unedifying part of life, intellectually lazy and morally dubious (see, e.g., Morreall 1997) . There are various established ways of making the case for a much higher evaluation (see, e.g., Morreall 2020) . This paper tries to indicate that comput","cbCaicmNAsXhAIy9","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicmNAsXhAIy9","pdf",894899,3,1,18,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Humor as a set of undervalued human abilities\n## Comparing humor with other AI capabilities","[{\"question\":\"What does computational research contribute to understanding humor?\",\"answer\":\"It highlights the complex abilities underlying humor and helps evaluate both the strengths and limitations of systems that model it. This research also sheds light on which aspects remain unsolved.\"},{\"question\":\"Which areas of humor modeling have seen substantial progress?\",\"answer\":\"Work has advanced in making jokes, detecting and generating laughter, and using irony in interactions. Evaluations clarify where these approaches work well and where they fall short.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is humor in everyday life harder to replicate than self-contained humor episodes?\",\"answer\":\"Because humor pervades real situations and involves contextual, multi-modal challenges. The data demands are daunting, and effective applications often still require human support.\"}]","Computational research and the case for taking humor seriously | PDF",1787275248,45,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":29},"computational-research-and-the-case-for-taking-humor-seriously","",{"@graph":37,"@context":86},[38,54,69],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,49,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":50,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/computational-research-and-the-case-for-taking-humor-seriously/134616/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":42,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-23","2026-08-21",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What does computational research contribute to understanding humor?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"It highlights the complex abilities underlying humor and helps evaluate both the strengths and limitations of systems that model it. This research also sheds light on which aspects remain unsolved.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"Which areas of humor modeling have seen substantial progress?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"Work has advanced in making jokes, detecting and generating laughter, and using irony in interactions. Evaluations clarify where these approaches work well and where they fall short.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"Why is humor in everyday life harder to replicate than self-contained humor episodes?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"Because humor pervades real situations and involves contextual, multi-modal challenges. 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