Show HN: I built an AI satirical news site because news was depressing me
thescallion.netlify.app
thescallion.netlify.app
How it works:
- Fetches news from multiple RSS feeds across different categories
- Uses GPT to generate witty headlines (it first generates 5 options, then picks the funniest one. I found this actually does well in choosing a funnier option)
- Rewrites articles in a satirical style while (TRYING) to preserve the core facts
Future plans:
- Let users add their own RSS feeds for personalized satire
- Add local news integration so you can laugh at what's happening in your city
- Implement different comedic "personalities" (think John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, different political affiliations, sassy gossip, etc.)
- Add social features to share
Tech stack: React, Node.js, OpenAI API, RSS parsing
I built this because doomscrolling was affecting my mental health, and I figured injecting some humor into the news cycle might help others too. Would love feedback from the HN community!
On the other hand, I actually liked "Greece Declares State of Emergency on Santorini, Residents Quickly Realize They Have Nowhere Else to Vacation" because it's funny to me that the entire country of Greece has a single place where they go for vacation. However, after I realized there were actual earthquakes, the joke felt a little insensitive, but I suppose that's to be expected if you're doing irreverent news.
"Aliens Prefer UK Over US for Sightseeing Trips, Survey Says" was also a pretty clever way to reword the original article, but it misunderstood the statistics. The article says that belief in UFOs is rising in the UK, but it is still less than in the US (20% across the pond vs 42% in the US of A), making the AI headline inaccurate.
Anyway, this is clearly meant to be a fun project, but I wanted to leave some feedback in case it helps find ways to make AI funnier. I think it's a good tool for comedy, but so far, the best AI comedy that I've seen has made use of its absurdity, like the Netflix special (https://youtu.be/nH_bEtbfB9U?si=TRF7v_Zu7sNVaeWD) or DougDoug's videos (https://youtu.be/W3id8E34cRQ?si=ucL-c4gOXRgor1LB). I think that there are probably certain prompting techniques that could make an AI more naturally funny, but I'd bet you probably have to get into CoT/reasoning-type stuff to get it to really make well-though-out jokes, because ultimately the best jokes are the ones that have layers to them.
I'm also using 3.5-turbo right now, i wonder if the ones that people use for stuff like character ai would be better?
Also, I think the absurdity angle would be really fun. I would love to have personalities that come out with a weekly digest or something. Or maybe people can submit questions to "the love doctor" or something, lol. There's a lot to play with.
I appreciate the feedback :)
1. First, I ask GPT to generate 5 different headlines using specific Onion-style techniques I found in satire writing guidelines:
- Highlighting an unspoken truth
- Expressing raw honesty of a character
- Treating a grand event in a mundane manner (or vice versa)
- Delivering critique through absurdity
Here's the actual prompt I use:
"Craft 5 satirical, humorous headlines for the given article, employing techniques such as highlighting an unspoken truth, expressing raw honesty of a character, treating a grand event in a mundane manner (or vice versa), or delivering a critique, inspired by The Onion's distinctive style. If the article allows for it, maintain a positive and light-hearted tone."
2. Then I have a second prompt that acts as a "comedy judge" to pick the best one: "Pretend that you are a world class comedian. Choose the funniest satirical article headline out of these headlines."
It's hit or miss - some headlines are pretty bland, but occasionally it produces gems that make me laugh out loud. I'm collecting the ones that work really well with the plan to fine-tune a model specifically for my type of humor.
For the article content itself, I use Jon Stewart as the style guide because I found his approach of "truth through comedy" tends to work well with keeping the actual news facts intact while adding humor.
I'm really interested in exploring different comedic styles and personalities. I think having different "voices" (like a John Oliver version vs a Stephen Colbert version) could be cool. Would love to hear if you have any other ideas for improving the humor generation!
Using the writing guidelines seems like a good way to get into the 'comedic' prediction space of LLMs that more basic prompts like 'tell me a joke' might not open up. Neat.