AI Chat

A joke I first heard about 50 years ago foretold the advent of artificial intelligence, long before the internet. A fellow saw a vending machine that offered conversation with a robot. You could set the level of conversation by IQ. He put a dollar in and set the level at 150. The machine then started a conversation and they discussed philosophy, historic trends, and recent scientific breakthroughs. 

After a while, he got tired of that, and dialed the level to 100. The machine began discussing celebrities and TV shows, and that was fun for a while. 

But then out of curiosity, the guy dialed the IQ level down to 50. 

The machine said, "10-4, good buddy!"

 

 

 

I've never tried chatting with AI, and I have no desire to. The closest I've come is trying to get an answer about a utility service, and I had no choice. At least I found out how to escalate to a real person. But surely this joke could be updated to be relevant in 2026. What would be the punch line?