Ebert test

The Ebert test gauges whether a computer-based <a href="/facts/Speech_synthesis/ceTczTv9">synthesized voice</a> can tell a joke with sufficient skill to cause people to <a href="/facts/Laugh/wXVj2WFP">laugh</a>. It was proposed by film critic <a href="/facts/Roger_Ebert/ogYo6zQj">Roger Ebert</a> at the <a href="/facts/TED_(conference)/Sc3JxnA1">2011 TED conference</a> as a challenge to <a href="/facts/Software_developers/WGTS1Jv9">software developers</a> to have a computerized voice master the inflections, delivery, timing, and intonations of a speaking human. The test is similar to the <a href="/facts/Turing_test/wEvf9DIr">Turing test</a> proposed by <a href="/facts/Alan_Turing/klov9b6g">Alan Turing</a> in 1950 as a way to gauge a computer's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior by generating performance indistinguishable from a <a href="/facts/Human_being/rlcTENsr">human being</a>.

<blockquote>If the computer can successfully tell a joke, and do the timing and delivery as well as <a href="/facts/Henny_Youngman/3p0tKbXG">Henny Youngman</a>, then that's the voice I want.— Ebert in 2011</blockquote>
Ebert lost his voice after surgery to treat cancer. He employed a Scottish company called <a href="/facts/CereProc/DChRqqMz">CereProc</a>, which custom-tailors <a href="/facts/Text-to-speech/ceTczTv9">text-to-speech</a> 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. He first publicly used the voice they devised for him in his March 2, 2010, appearance on <a href="/facts/The_Oprah_Winfrey_Show/eXsy10ej">The Oprah Winfrey Show</a>.

Ebert test open-in-new

Ebert test