When AI starts making us laugh, then we're screwed, says Rushdie

Salman Rushdie has said that authors are safe from the threat of AI - until the moment it can create a book that makes people laugh.

- Steven Morris

Speaking at the Hay festival in Wales, Rushdie said he had "never tried AI" and tried to pretend it doesn't exist.

But the problem AI had was that it couldn't make up its own jokes, the writer said. "It has no sense of humour - you don't want to hear a joke told by ChatGPT. If there's a moment when there's a funny book written by ChatGPT, I think we're screwed."

Rushdie was making his most high-profile in-person appearance in the UK since an attack in the US left him blind in the right eye.