Understanding Bodily Expressed Laughter Responses to Human and AI-Generated Japanese Manzai scripts

AAAI 2026 Workshop BEEU Submission6 Authors

Keywords: Laughter detection, AI-generated scripts, Human-created scripts, Explicit Laughter, Implicit Laughter

Abstract: This study investigates how audiences perceive humor in both Human-created and AI-generated Manzai scripts, a traditional Japanese form of scripted stand-up comedy performed by a pair of comedians. We analyze laughter responses using two complementary modalities: explicit laughter, captured through real-time reaction-button inputs, and implicit laughter, measured via mouth-corner motion tracking. Comparative experiments are conducted to evaluate differences between Human-created and AI-generated Manzai scripts. The results reveal that while AI-generated Manzai scripts can elicit explicit laughter to a certain extent, it is less effective in inducing implicit laughter compared to Human-created script. Implicit laughter is observed only when explicit laughter occurred, suggesting that unconscious emotional reactions may precede conscious recognition of humor. Moreover, Human-created Manzai scripts that are contextually relatable and easy to imagine produced larger and more sustained mouth-corner movements, indicating that empathy and contextual understanding play key roles in embodied humor perception. These findings demonstrate that mouth-corner motion is a reliable indicator of subtle amusement and provide new insights into Bodily Expressed Emotion Understanding (BEEU) for AI-generated humor.

Submission Number: 6