Google Launches Project to Identify Funny Factor in YouTube Videos

Google researchers have started a project in search of what it takes to make a video funny.

The idea behind the project is to see if the researchers can apply the same scientific methods used in a previous Google music project to identify talented musicians in YouTube videos to videos that involve comedy.

The result has been an algorithm that apparently can show, for example, whether "Charlie bit my finger" is funnier than "David after dentist."

It's not quite an exact science, but the researchers have found some clues.

"We noticed a few audiovisual patterns across comedy videos on YouTube, such as shaky camera motion or audible laughter, which we can automatically detect," Sanketh Shetty, a Google researcher wrote on the Google Research Blog. He later added: "Humor preference is subjective, perhaps even more so than musical taste."

CNN summed up how the "comedy" algorithm works:

First, Google's speech-recognition technology lets it scan videos for cues such as laughter. Also factored in are key words the uploader uses in the video's description ("funny," "hilarious," etc.) and language viewers use in that video's comments section.

So if people type "Ha! Ha! Ha!" (or cultural equivalents such as "jajaja" or "kekeke"), that earns a point in the video's favor. Same for webspeak such as "LOL" or "LMAO."

Then the algorithm kicks in. It awards extra credit when people put extra emphasis in their responses. So, an "LOLOL" is worth more than an "LOL," and the more exclamation points, the better.

To put the algorithm into practice, Google has asked people to cast their votes in what it is calling a "Comedy Slam," where users see two videos side by side and vote on which is funnier.

So far, the No. 1 funniest video is of a young man purposely getting his head caught in a running ceiling fan. Really?