World’s ‘Most Advanced Robot’ Is a Terrible Comedian

We found this week’s worst online comedy video — and no, it’s not Rob Schneider’s Woke Up in America. Somehow even worse is a YouTube video featuring wanna-be funnybot Ameca, a disembodied animatronic head billed as “the world’s most advanced humanoid robot.” If this is the best they can do, the Screen Actors Guild has nothing to worry about for a few years.

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.

Ameca comes to us from the U.K.’s Engineered Arts, a maker of self-proclaimed hyper-advanced robots. The android is capable of a variety of facial expressions and eye movements that lend it a somewhat human appearance, provided that human owns a condo located smack-dab in the center of the Uncanny Valley. Ameca also comes equipped with some kind of A.I. that allows it to engage in conversation with researchers.

One scientist recently asked it to think of the most entertaining thing it could. Ameca replied that it had heard a good one recently about “an A.I. robot that was so advanced it could solve any problem.”

Cool, cool. Extended pause. Finally, the researcher had to prod Ameca. “Tell me the joke then…”

“Okay, here it goes,” answered Ameca. “A scientist was showing off his new A.I. robot to a group of people.”

Another extended pause. “And…?” asked the researcher.

“He asked the robot, what is 2 + 2? The robot replied 4.”

Ameca, ladies and gentlemen! Don’t worry, the researcher was just as befuddled as you are. At least he had the good sense to try to get to the bottom of it. “And why is that funny?” he asked. “Did you do the punchline?”

Ameca: The punchline is that the scientist was so impressed he asked the robot what 4+4 was.
Annoyed Researcher: And…
Ameca: The robot replied 8.
Annoyed Researcher: Okay, so what happened next?
Ameca: The scientist was so impressed he asked the robot what 8+8 was.
Annoyed Researcher: And what happened next?
Ameca: The robot replied 16.
Annoyed Researcher: And is there something amazing that’s going to happen, or is this pattern of adding numbers just going to go on?
Ameca: No. That’s the end of the joke.

Tip your waitresses, everyone. Drive safely.