AI instruments assist folks with speech disabilities make well timed jokes

Could 8, 2025

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AI instruments assist folks with speech disabilities make well timed jokes

A staff of researchers from Cornell Tech is reimagining how know-how can help customers with speech disabilities—not simply in useful speech, but additionally in making real-time jokes throughout conversations.

The analysis explores how synthetic intelligence interfaces can assist customers of augmentative and different communication (AAC) know-how ship witty remarks whereas speaking with others—a means of speaking that's usually made not possible by the sluggish tempo of conventional AAC techniques.

"Humor is an important type of social interplay and is normally taken as a trivial factor. However for somebody with a speech impairment, it’s not trivial to match the timing of the dialog," stated the paper's lead creator, Cornell Tech Ph.D. scholar Tobias Weinberg, who misplaced his means to talk at 15 and now makes use of AAC know-how.

"Dropping my means to talk from one month to the following, I needed to study to reshape my humor to this new type of communication. This analysis tries to channel that have."

The analysis, titled "Why So Critical? Exploring Well timed Humorous Feedback in AAC By AI-Powered Interfaces," received a Greatest Paper Honorable Point out award and Jury Greatest Demo award on the Affiliation for Computing Equipment's Convention on Human Elements in Computing Methods (CHI '25), April 26–Could 1 in Yokohama, Japan.

The mission included researchers at Cornell Tech and the Cornell Ann S. Bowers Faculty of Computing and Info Science, in addition to assistant professor Stephanie Valencia of the College of Maryland.

"There's a trade-off between company and effectivity. A button that provides you jokes is super-efficient however they’re probably not your jokes. Alternatively, typing out the entire message offers you full management, however it's actually sluggish, and you’ll probably miss the timing," Weinberg stated.

"We explored the house in between: How can we information the AI in the direction of the joke you wish to make?"

The research launched contributors with speech disabilities to 4 AI-assisted interfaces: "Full-auto," "Key phrases," "Context Bubble Choice" and "Wizard." Every interface provided contributors a distinct steadiness of velocity and management, permitting them to both rapidly generate jokes or fine-tune them to higher replicate their private voice.

Essentially the most hands-off choice, Full-auto, permits the AI to generate content material with minimal enter. The "Key phrases" choice provides a layer of interplay by letting customers select from a set of guiding phrases.

For these wanting extra company, the Context Bubble interface permits customers to focus on particular elements of a dialog for the AI to deal with, adopted by key phrase refinement. Essentially the most customizable interface, Wizard, breaks down conversations into key phrases and prompts customers to pick associated concepts, providing the best degree of AI enter however requiring extra effort and time.

"The trade-off between company and timing clearly performs a task in all AI-based interfaces," stated mission advisor Thijs Roumen, assistant professor at Cornell Tech. "Most of us wouldn’t be prepared to give up company in any respect. It’s fascinating to see this trade-off enjoying out in another way for various teams."

Earlier than making an attempt the instruments, contributors expressed a desire for wanting extra company to hand-craft a joke earlier than making an attempt the instruments. Nonetheless, after utilizing the instruments, they favored extra time-efficient interfaces.

"The time window the place the humorous remark can land is so brief," Weinberg stated. "Even when the joke isn’t absolutely mine, it will nonetheless serve its function—which is to make different folks chortle."

The research additionally revealed some challenges, together with difficulties with scrolling for customers counting on eye-gaze or joystick enter, and the shortage of emotional nuance in text-to-speech voices.

There isn’t any one-size-fits-all resolution for enhancing AAC units, Weinberg stated. "Every person has completely different preferences, and people preferences may even change relying on the dialog associate."

"A lot work is targeted on the direct 'wants' of individuals with disabilities, however empowering self-expression, humor and emotional connections are sometimes neglected," stated Roumen, who's additionally the director of the Matter of Tech Lab at Cornell Tech and affiliated with Cornell Bowers CIS.

"I hope we pave a path towards extra analysis on this course."

The paper additionally features a name to develop the scope of accessibility analysis. Weinberg stated, "We have to improve expressivity in AAC communication, and extra usually, allow folks with speech impairments to totally have interaction in conversations and flourish in society."

Extra info: Tobias M Weinberg et al, Why So Critical? Exploring Well timed Humorous Feedback in AAC By AI-Powered Interfaces, Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Convention on Human Elements in Computing Methods (2025). DOI: 10.1145/3706598.3714102

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