*** Call for Participation for MWAHAHA at SemEval 2026 (Task 1) ***

Can computers be funny?

MWAHAHA – Models Write Automatic Humor And Humans Annotate at SemEval 2026 (Task 1)

https://pln-fing-udelar.github.io/semeval-2026-humor-gen/

While Humor Understanding has been the focus of many shared tasks, Humor Generation remains an even more challenging and largely unexplored frontier. MWAHAHA, which stands for Models Write Automatic Humor And Humans Annotate, is SemEval 2026's Task 1 https://semeval.github.io/SemEval2026/ and is the first task dedicated to advancing the state of the art in Computational Humor Generation. We invite participants to develop systems capable of generating genuinely humorous content under various constraints.

Our goal is to push models beyond memorization and towards true humorous creativity. By using carefully designed constraints, we aim to ensure fairness in evaluation and encourage the generation of novel jokes. This task has significant implications for more engaging conversational AI, creative writing tools, and a deeper understanding of the complex nature of humor itself.

The task is organized into two subtasks:

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Subtask A: Text-based Humor Generation

Systems must generate jokes following constraints (related to a news headline, or containing certain words). This subtask is in English, Spanish, and Chinese.

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Subtask B: Image-Based Caption Generation

Systems must generate a free-form humorous caption given a GIF image that enhances its comedic effect. This subtask is in English only.

The participating systems will be evaluated based on human preferences on 1-on-1 arena-style battles.

To participate in this task, please join our CodaBench competition:

https://www.codabench.org/competitions/9719/

Important Dates:

* Development data release: September 1, 2025

* Evaluation trial phase starts: October 1, 2025

* Evaluation trial phase ends: December 15, 2025

* Evaluation period starts: January 10, 2026

* Evaluation period ends: January 31, 2026

* System description paper submission: February 28, 2026

* Notification of acceptance: March 31, 2026

* Camera-ready papers due: April 30, 2026

* SemEval 2026 Workshop: July 2026