HUMOR: AI designed to analyze Philippine elections keeps laughing hysterically

by Alan Robles

An Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent created to analyze Philippine elections keeps bursting into hysterical laughter, its designer complained.

According to Sid Buyas, his Total Election Comprehension and Analysis Just For You (TECAJFY) computer program suddenly started emitting sounds of "clearly mocking hilarity" shortly after it was fed a lot of data about Philippine polls.

He explained the TECAJFY was supposed to absorb, collate, synthesize and analyze all information related to elections and national political culture and then provide answers to specific questions.

The problem, Buyas said, is that "while the program answers questions, it keeps making those nasty laughing sounds afterwards."

"For instance, when I asked it, 'who will win the Senate elections?', it said YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE. This was followed by five seconds of hooting sounds."

"Then," Buyas said, "when I asked, 'who will lose the Senate election?', it replied THE PHILIPPINES. And then the computer laughed for 10 straight seconds. I mean, seriously, what kind of answer is that?

"The thing is, I wasn't even aware it had an audio subroutine," the puzzled designer said.

Buyas said he had hoped the sophisticated AI would help people understand what goes on in a typical Philippine election but, apart from the mocking laughter it emits, the AI tends to give baffling answers.

"When I asked the AI, 'are political dynasties good or are they bad?', it said YES."

He recalled that he had also asked the AI what role debates play in the success of a senatorial candidate.

"All I got was five minutes of non-stop shrieking laughter. It seemed to say something that sounded like ANO SA TINGIN MO GAGO, but I'm not sure. "

The programmer revealed that he had asked the AI one of the questions many people want to know: how did a dimwitted action star become a high-placing contender for a Senate position?

"In response it just started jabbering ROBOBOBOBOBOBOBO.

He added, "needless to say, this was immediately followed by more of that annoying shrieking laughter."

Then, the programmer revealed, "I asked the AI to explain the best way to win the election. It replied MALETAS."

The designer said he did not know what caused the AI to behave in such a way.

"It could be a glitch. Or a program loop. Or maybe the AI is just being a smartass."

Said Buyas: "If this computer program turns out to be deeply flawed, dubious and unreliable, it will leave me no choice.

"I might just sell it to Comelec."