It worked? Not quite, Alda acknowledged. While “M*A*S*H” was known for its snappy humor and lively dialogue, ChatGPT’s effort fell flat and its jokes were heavy-handed at best. But it was the first time the two characters had 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: You what?
Hawkeye: My shorts, the ones I wear every time I have major surgery. I know you took them.
BJ: They wouldn’t catch me dead in your underwear.
Hawkeye: They’re not just underwear; They are comfortable and I like to wear them and they are missing.
Alda, who, like much of the world, has become “obsessed” with AI technology, said in an interview that she had decided to film the scene to test whether ChatGPT was capable of writing a “playable” TV scene. As the software has become a cultural fixation, many users have tested its ability to compose stories, which it tries to do by referencing its vast repository of digital information, including books, Wikipedia articles and other online writings.
On the podcast, Farrell said that the resulting script and the idea that artificial intelligence could one day supplant human television writers had puzzled him. Alda seemed less concerned and she noted that when she ordered ChatGPT to “make it fun”, she came up with “some really stupid things”. Technology also had a tendency to get maudlin, which led him to instruct her to “stop being sentimental”.
BJ: Oh, you mean your lucky bermuda?
Hawkeye: They’re out of luck. I don’t believe in such nonsense.
BJ: Like the time you insisted on wearing the same pair of socks for a week because you won a poker game in them?
Hawkeye: I’m not superstitious! Those are just my normal everyday shorts.
BJ: Right, like the time you made everyone walk backwards around the OR to ward off bad luck.
Hawkeye: That was a joke, I can’t believe you’re taking it seriously. I’m not superstitious. And those are just my normal everyday shorts. I wear them because they inspire me and remind me of my grandmother.
“He has a terrible sense of humor,” Alda said. (Before deleting this joke, ChatGPT wrote Hawkeye a nonsensical line saying that the underpants reminded him of his grandmother, because he “once bet on a horse that turned out to be a cow and still managed to win.” )
So is this exchange between BJ and Hawkeye about underpants considered canon? Or mere fan fiction?
“That is for future generations to determine,” Alda said.
