Ebert test

The Ebert test gauges whether a computer-based synthesized voice[1][2] can tell a joke with sufficient skill to cause people to laugh.

[3] It was proposed by film critic Roger Ebert at the 2011 TED conference as a challenge to software developers to have a computerized voice master the inflections, delivery, timing, and intonations of a speaking human.

[1] The test is similar to the Turing test proposed by Alan Turing in 1950 as a way to gauge a computer's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior by generating performance indistinguishable from a human being.

He employed a Scottish company called CereProc, which custom-tailors text-to-speech software for voiceless customers who record their voices at length before losing them, and mined tapes and DVD commentaries featuring Ebert to create a voice that sounded more like his own voice.

[5] He first publicly used the voice they devised for him in his March 2, 2010, appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.