Computer vs. Kotter
As the IMDB summary in the screenshot below says, this 17th episode in the third season of Welcome Back Kotter featured a computer capable of speaking about any episode in history brought into the classroom to replace the teacher's lectures. Mr. Kotter finds he no longer has to spend time preparing lessons or even grading assignments but doesn't enjoy feeling useless. The seathogs have their own way of resolving that problem and indicate the usual assumption always portrayed on TV that young people just know how to hack computers without any need for formal training.
Mr. Kotter insists at the end of the program that the computer should be used as a tool but not to replace the human experience of teaching. I found that fascinating that this was portrayed in early 1978 because very few schools were even bringing computers in at that stage.
Also while the ELIZA chatbot was born in 1966, it would have carried on conversation via text rather than voice. Also the chatbot could work by responding directly to your input rather like the computer does when Mr. Kotter types in a joke, but it would not have been capable of delivering a lecture on whatever historical topic the teacher typed in, as depicted in "Meet Your New Teacher: Batteries Not Included." There is never any explanation offered about how it is fed data to work with (unlike the computer in the 1957 movie Deskset)
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| IMDB listing for the episode in question |
AI Today
But in 2025, it certainly would be possible given computers ability to tap into the information uploaded to the internet with AI conversion of text to voice, as well. But how does actual generative AI measure up? Ironically, not all that well in context of a very simple query.
As I discovered Mr. Kotter attempting to get the computer to appreciate one of his uncle jokes via a video compendium of his jokes, I didn't know which episode to look for and so decided to ask generative AI for help. I presented this query to Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT: In which episode of "Welcome Back Kotter" did Mr. Kotter type a joke into a computer?
I don't recall an episode of "Welcome Back, Kotter" where Mr. Kotter typed a joke into a computer. The show ran from 1975 to 1979, a time when personal computers were just emerging and not commonly featured in television shows, especially in classroom settings.
"Welcome Back, Kotter" was set in a Brooklyn high school where Gabe Kotter (played by Gabe Kaplan) taught a group of underachieving students known as the "Sweathogs." The show primarily focused on classroom interactions, the students' antics, and Kotter's relationship with them, typically using traditional teaching methods rather than technology.
Since my knowledge has a cutoff date, there's a small possibility I might be missing something, but computers were not a significant part of the show's premise or regular storylines. If you're thinking of a specific episode that featured this scenario, it may be from another show or a different context.
Gemini was much more helpful in this context, identifying the correct episode and linking to the IMDB page associated with it. Here's what it answered:
Based on the search results, the episode of "Welcome Back, Kotter" where Mr. Kotter interacts with a computer and attempts to tell it a joke is:
- "Meet Your New Teacher: Batteries Not Included" (Season 3, Episode 17)
Here's a key takeaway from the search results:
- The episode features Mr. Woodman bringing a computer into the Sweathogs' classroom.
1 - Mr. Kotter does indeed attempt to tell the computer a joke, with less than stellar results.
ChatGPT's response was similar, but I can't account for why it offers a different air date than what is found on IMDB or imputes a particular motive to Mr. Kotter's attempt to the tell the computer a joke. The the computer doesn't get the joke is not necessarily a slight on its intelligence, as Mr. Kotter's uncle jokes tend to be more groan-worthy than laugh-worthy. Here's what it wrote:
In the "Welcome Back, Kotter" episode titled "Meet Your New Teacher: Batteries Not Included," Mr. Kotter interacts with a computer introduced into his classroom. This episode is the 17th of the third season, which originally aired on February 18, 1978. In this episode, Vice Principal Woodman brings a computer into the Sweathogs' class to teach their lessons, leading to a significant increase in their grades. Feeling jealous and concerned about being replaced, Mr. Kotter attempts to engage with the computer. At the end of the episode, he tries to tell the computer a joke, but the computer does not respond, highlighting the limitations of technology in replacing human interaction. Ultimate 70s+10IMDb+10Inner Mind+10
Conclusion
While I do like using Claude for certain tasks, it seems that it suffers from a major shortcoming in making sense of data that should have been accessible to it via the internet. But there's also something very meta about observing the the latest -- of the free -- versions of generative AI only being capable of answering question when they have taken in specific data about them. No computer can simply start lecturing about a historical episode without taking in the relevant data. And once again, we are reminded that the output of computers depends on what the input is.
Related:
Add a pinch of salt to creative claims for AI
AI's early attempts at screenwriting
The perils of prompt engineering
An A/B test of generative AI
Bard brings in the clowns
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