Detecting Sarcasm

 Computers Detecting Sarcasm  An important component of modern communication

How Computers Can Finally Detect Sarcasm Ramya Akula and the tech that lets sentiment analysis spot mocking words3119:2901 JUL 2021.   Podcast and transcript 

Hi and welcome to Fixing the Future, IEEE Spectrum’s podcast series on the technologies that can set us on the right path toward sustainability, meaningful work, and a healthy economy for all. Fixing the Future is sponsored by COMSOL, makers of of COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software. I’m Steven Cherry.

Leonard: Hey, Penny. How’s work?

Penny: Great! I hope I’m a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory for my whole life!

Sheldon: Was that sarcasm?

Penny: No.

Sheldon: Was that sarcasm?

Penny: Yes.

Steven Cherry That’s Leonard, Penny and Sheldon from season two of the Big Bang Theory. Fans of the show know there’s some question of whether Sheldon understands sarcasm. In some episodes he does, and in others he’s just learning it. But there’s no question that computers don’t understand sarcasm or didn’t until some researchers at the University of Central Florida started them on a path to learning it. Software engineers have been working on various flavors of sentiment analysis for quite some time. Back in 2005, I wrote an article in Spectrum about call centers automatically scanning conversations for anger either by the caller or the service operator. One of the early use cases behind messages like this call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes. Since then, software has been getting better and better at detecting joy, fear, sadness, confidence and now, finally, sarcasm. My guest today, Ramia Akula, is a PhD student and a graduate research assistant at the University of Central Florida is Complex Adaptive Systems Lab.. She has at least 11 publications to her name, including the most recent interpretable multiheaded self attention architecture for Sarcasm Detection in Social Media, published in March in the journal Entropy with her advisor, Ivan Garibay Ramia. Welcome to the podcast.   ... '