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Deep Dive: Australia has a long track record of world-changing research, from Wi-Fi to the bionic ear, and now one Melbourne academic thinks the next frontier might be in comedic robots.

University of Melbourne researcher Dr Robert Walton has received more than half a million dollars in public funding to explore whether AI and robots can perform believable comedy, and what it can teach us about humour and human-machine interaction.

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou speaks with Dr Walton about what this research could mean far beyond the stage.

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Calls for PM to resign + Try not to laugh: robot edition