Why So Serious? Exploring Timely Humorous Comments in AAC Through AI-Powered Interfaces

CHI 2025 - Best Paper Honorable Mention Award (best 5%) 🏅
CHI 2025 - Jury Best Demo Award 🏆

Fig. 1: We explore designing AAC interfaces for timely humorous comments. (a) An AAC user attempts a joke. (b) They frantically type as the conversation moves on. (c) The joke plays too late, causing confusion. (d) We explore AI-powered tools to speed up responses while preserving agency. (e) Our designs help AAC users express humor meaningfully Note: AAC input methods vary. The lead author, an AAC user, interacts with their phone as shown. Our study tested interfaces across devices.

Abstract

People with disabilities that affect their speech may use speech-generating devices (SGD), commonly referred to as Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technology. This technology enables practical conversation; however, delivering expressive and timely comments remains challenging. This paper explores how to extend AAC technology to support a subset of humorous expressions: delivering timely humorous comments -witty remarks- through AI-powered interfaces. To understand the role of humor in AAC and the challenges and experiences of delivering humor with AAC, we conducted seven qualitative interviews with AAC users. Based on these insights and the lead author's firsthand experience as an AAC user, we designed four AI-powered interfaces to assist in delivering well-timed humorous comments during ongoing conversations. Our user study with five AAC users found that when timing is critical (e.g., delivering a humorous comment), AAC users are willing to trade agency for efficiency—contrasting prior research where they hesitated to delegate decision-making to AI. We conclude by discussing the trade-off between agency and efficiency in AI-powered interfaces, how AI can shape user intentions, and offer design recommendations for AI-powered AAC interfaces.

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Citation

@inproceedings{weinberg2025whysoserious,
author = {Weinberg, Tobias M and Kadoma, Kowe and Gonzalez Penuela, Ricardo E. and Valencia, Stephanie and Roumen, Thijs},
title = {Why So Serious? Exploring Timely Humorous Comments in AAC Through AI-Powered Interfaces},
year = {2025},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3714102},
doi = {10.1145/3706598.3714102},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
articleno = {759},
numpages = {19},
series = {CHI '25}
}

Acknowledgements

We extend our sincere gratitude to Zekai Shen, Samee Chandra, and Maria Tane for their invaluable contributions to the development of the prototypes. We also thank Roy Zunder for his assistance in data analysis and writing. This work would not have been possible without your support and dedication.
The website template was borrowed from Michaël Gharbi.