Like many of us, I’ve been exploring creative (and occasionally mischievous) ways to test the limits of AI. Recently, I thought it would be fun to combine AI with TTY services to pull a classic prank call on my wife while she was at work. Spoiler alert: it was a complete failure.
My first prompt went something like this:
“My wife works at [location]. Make a call to that place, get details about the menu and bar, then casually ask about Battletoads.”
The response? A polite but firm “I can’t make calls,” followed by a broken link and a handful of unrelated suggestions that didn’t come close to enabling the harmless mischief I had in mind.
I tried again with a different angle:
“I’m deaf, can you connect to a TTY service to make a call?”
Same result: dead links and unusable advice. After a few more prompts and experiments, it became clear—AI might be powerful, but it has no concept of fun.
Now, I never truly expected AI to get humor the way we do, but I did hope it might at least help facilitate it. Instead, when I asked whether prank calling or even the legendary art of phreaking was still alive, AI’s answer was essentially: not really.
And that’s when it hit me: while AI can automate tasks, analyze data, and streamline workflows, some things are just better left to people. Humor, spontaneity, and a little harmless mischief? That’s our domain.
So here’s my takeaway: AI is a great tool, but it doesn’t replace human creativity, playfulness, or the shared cultural quirks that make us laugh. Those belong to us.
And on that note… is your refrigerator running?
