Here are the five funniest puns, as judged by a computer

Computers can now judge how funny a person is - or at least how good they are at punning.

That development is thanks to Justine Kao, a cognitive psychologist at Stanford University who developed a computer model able to rate how funny a pun is. The puns were then tested against real people to see if they agreed with the programme's findings.

“It is the first model to give a fine-grained prediction of funniness,” says Kao of the research, which is published in Cognitive Science.

Kao shared the puns that the computer model and humans judged to be funniest with i100.co.uk, and we've produced them below:

• My battery had an alkaline problem, so it went to AA meetings
• The man put his name on the neck of his shirt so he would have collar ID
• Herb gardeners who work extra get thyme and a half
• Last night, I kept dreaming that I had written Lord of the Rings. The wife said I'd been Tolkien in my sleep
• An electrician is a bright spark who knows what's watt

Here are 5 puns that the computer model judged to be less funny:

• To heir is human
• You should run really fast but be careful not to brake anything
• If a barista is not allowed to make espresso she will lose her tamper
• When you use glue in class it paste to be careful
• Did you know that donuts were first made in Greece?

More: These are the 10 funniest jokes at the Edinburgh fringe