is that useful? Not quite, Arda admitted. While “M*A*S*H” is known for its snappy humor and lively dialogue, ChatGPT’s efforts are hollow, and its jokes are catchy at best. But it’s the first time the two characters have interacted since the 1983 series finale, which aired almost exactly 40 years ago and remains the most-watched non-Super Bowl show on American television.
Hawkeye: Where are they? my shorts.
BJ: Your what?
Hawkeye: My shorts – I wear them every time I have major surgeries. I know you took them.
BJ: I won’t die in your underwear.
Hawkeye: They’re not just underwear; they’re comfortable and I love wearing them, but they’re missing.
Like most people in the world, Alda has become “fascinated” by artificial intelligence technology, and he said in an interview that he decided to record the scene to test whether ChatGPT has the ability to write “playable” TV scenes. As the software has grown into a cultural fixture, many users have tested its ability to make up stories, which it attempts to do by referencing its vast repository of digital information, including books, Wikipedia articles and other writing online .
In the podcast, Farrell said he was disturbed by the resulting scripts and the idea that artificial intelligence could one day replace human TV writers. Alda didn’t seem too concerned, noting that when he ordered ChatGPT to “make it fun,” it came up with “some really stupid stuff.” The technology also has a tendency to be goofy, leading him to instruct it to “stop being sentimental”.
BJ: Oh, you mean yours lucky shorts?
Hawkeye: They’re not lucky. I don’t believe that nonsense.
BJ: Like you insist on wearing the same pair of socks for a week because you won a poker game?
Hawkeye: I’m not superstitious! Those are just my normal everyday shorts.
BJ: Right, like when you have everyone walk backwards around the operating room to avoid bad luck.
Hawkeye: That was a joke – I can’t believe you’re taking it so seriously. I am not superstitious. Those are just my normal everyday shorts. I wear them because they inspire me and remind me of my grandmother.
“It has a horrible sense of humor,” Alda said. (Before he deleted the joke, ChatGPT wrote Hawkeye an absurd line in which he said boxer shorts reminded him of his grandmother because “she used to bet on a horse that turned out to be a cow and still made a profit .”)
So, should the boxer short exchange between BJ and Hawkeye be considered canon? Or purely fan fiction?
“It’s for future generations to decide,” Arda said.
