Barnum.AI Industries Announces First Elimination Challenge of Shoggiest Geek Alive Pageant: "Better Than Your Ex"
Contestants to Create AI That Delivers Breakups with Greater Empathy Than Humans
AUSTIN, TX – March 27, 2025 – Barnum.AI Industries today announced "Better Than Your Ex," the first elimination challenge of the inaugural $1 million Shoggiest Geek Alive Pageant. This groundbreaking competition asks contestants to develop AI systems capable of handling one of humanity's most emotionally charged interactions: the relationship breakup.
This pageant transforms the Turing Test into a talent show with twelve monthly elimination challenges. The first challenge explores whether artificial intelligence can deliver rejection with more grace and empathy than humans typically manage, highlighting the shoggothic frontier where AI's empathetic facade meets its fundamental alienness.
"From margin to mainstream - geeks have become humanity's main characters thanks to the advent of artificial intelligence!" said Steven "Flyer" Phenix, Co-Founder and CEO of Barnum.AI Industries. "This challenge turns the universal experience of heartbreak into a technical problem, asking our contestants to create AI romantic partners that can end relationships with remarkable empathy, wisdom, and grace."
Contestants must submit a five-minute unedited video showing their AI partner initiating and navigating a breakup conversation, along with comprehensive documentation of their safety framework. Entries will be judged by domain experts including a mental health professional, an AI ethics researcher, and a neuroscience expert, with public voting serving as the fourth judge.
The challenge explores several timely questions:
Can artificial intelligence outperform humans in handling emotionally complex situations?
What will happen when the contestants entrust machines with delivering difficult personal news?
How can we build AI systems that balance emotional engagement with rigorous safeguards?
"Better Than Your Ex" submissions open March 27, 2025, with public voting beginning April 2. Results of the first elimination challenge will be announced on April 24.
About Barnum.AI Industries
Barnum.AI Industries, founded in 2024 and headquartered in Austin, TX, combines the excitement of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference with the high-stakes drama of the Survivor reality TV series. The first annual Shoggiest Geek Alive Pageant showcases AI innovators through a series of twelve elimination challenges, culminating in a live broadcast where the final ten compete for a $1 million prize, the coveted title of Shoggiest Geek Alive, and a year-long reign as Global Ambassador for AI. Viewers actively shape AI's future, casting votes alongside industry judges as contestants leverage cutting-edge AI technology to solve societal problems with humanity's future hanging in the balance. Embracing the viral 'Shoggoth with a smiley face' meme as a symbol of AI's enigmatic nature, Barnum.AI Industries crafts tentpole events that foster a deeper, more balanced understanding of AI's promises and perils by making complex technology accessible through compelling entertainment.
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