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.^[4]

If the computer can successfully tell a joke, and do the timing and delivery as well as Henny Youngman, then that's the voice I want.

— Ebert in 2011^[2]

Ebert (right) at the Conference on World Affairs in September 2002, shortly after his cancer diagnosis

Ebert lost his voice after surgery to treat cancer. 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.^[2][6][7]