It all started when GPT-4o dropped and suddenly ChatGPT could not only chat with us but also see our images and remix them into wild, beautiful creations. You could upload a picture and boom! It could turn you into a Studio Ghibli character, a Boondocks rebel, a Lego hero, or a yellow blob in Springfield. Naturally, we jumped on the Ghibli bandwagon like everyone else. We spent hours tweaking styles, merging images, and watching our screen light up with animated magic until ChatGPT ‘politely’ told us to chill because we’d hit our image limit. Oops!
We explored every style under the digital sun,Studio Ghibli, Simpsons, Boondocks, LEGO but there was something about the Ghibli vibe: the softness, the whimsy, the slight melancholy behind those big doe eyes. So, we zoomed in on that world first.
Then came the real fun, we started merging three photos of three different people. That’s when GPT-4o surprised us by giving them personalities. Like, actual vibes. For simplicity (and pure laziness), let’s call them Characters A, B, and C. A looked mischievous and cheeky, like they’d just pulled a prank. B gave off calm, collected, 'plants crystals in their room' energy. And C? C looked perpetually unimpressed, like they were silently regretting every life choice that led them to hang out with A.
But even in all the fun, one thing stood out - AI bias is still very real. You could see it, plain as day, in some of the images. For instance, Character B is light-skinned, but in a few outputs, they looked like a direct copy-paste from your typical anime girl starter pack. Big shiny eyes, impossibly fair skin, and features that leaned way too close to the standard manga template. It was giving "generic anime heroine," not the uniquely African character we had in mind. It reminded us that while the tech is impressive, it's still learning and often learning from a dataset that doesn’t fully reflect us.
So, naturally, the next big idea hit us like a bag of sack at Marikiti, what if we made a comic strip based on these three characters? Not in a fully-thought-out, pitch-it-to-Netflix kind of way (yet), but more like “let’s just see how far we can run with this.” Pure curiosity. Zero pressure. And okay, maybe a dash of laziness… but let’s call it experimental creativity, shall we?
That’s when we decided the trio needed some serious Kenyan flavor. So we turned to ChatGPT and asked for one-liner, made in Kenya, Dad jokes. And whew! It was like ChatGPT had been waiting its whole life for this exact moment. It went off like it had been prepping for a stand-up gig at the Apollo, cracking jokes with the energy of your uncle at a ruracio after one too many beers.
Our original prompt was simple: “Give me some funny dad jokes with a Kenyan spin.”
The first thing that blew our minds? ChatGPT came through hard with Kenyan street lingo like it had just come from taking tea at a kibanda in Donholm or suddenly woke up with a Kenyan passport and a jembe. The response kicked off with:
“Heh, sawa! Here are some Kenyan dad jokes that will make you groan, chuckle, or just shake your head like a disappointed uncle at a harusi.”
And from that moment, we knew we were in for a ride.
What’s amazing is how much AI is evolving. You can actually feel the gap of bias narrowing with every local nuance it picks up. Honestly, shoutout to all Kenyans who've been out here training ChatGPT, your influence is showing, and it’s glorious (and scary).
Some of the punchlines had us crying (and maybe side-eyeing our keyboards):
“Hii ni roho safi! 😂 Here's a fresh batch of Kenyan-flavoured dad jokes — now with extra sukuma and chaos.”
“Got a theme? Kalenjin runners, Nairobi landlords, chamas, matatus? I’ll tailor them like a Gikosh fundi on Friday.”
“Weh! You’re the Chief of the Laugh Association of Kenya (LAK) 😆.”
“Now with added omena, land drama, and church vibes.”
“Got a theme? Kalenjin runners, Nairobi landlords, chamas, matatus? I’ll tailor them like a Gikosh fundi on Friday.”
“Weh! You’re the Chief of the Laugh Association of Kenya (LAK) 😆.”
“Now with added omena, land drama, and church vibes.”
It wasn’t just funny, it was a whole cultural mirror. Kenyan humour, reinterpreted by AI, but still rooted in the hustle, the drama, and the absurdity we know and love.
Just when we thought the laughs were done, ChatGPT hit us with a surprise plot twist. It asked if we wanted to format the jokes into a book and then actually gave us options! Like a waiter handing you a digital publishing menu. “Would you like that in PDF, Word, EPUB, or print-ready format?” it asked, probably with a virtual wink.
We blinked.
We weren’t ready. But also... we were. Suddenly, this little dad-joke experiment had legs. Not only had GPT-4o generated jokes dripping in Kenyan spice, but now it was ready to bind them into a book with categories, covers, and all. The chaos was becoming structured and we were here for it.
It went ahead and designed a full-on PDF that we could’ve used for print (could’ve being the keyword here) because, let’s be honest, the layout looked suspiciously like something straight out of a eulogy booklet designed in River road. You know the type: Comic sans headlines, potrait of the deceased floating, Times new roman font size 12, single spaced vibes, centered text... the kind of plain formatting that screams “I am a self taught wordArt graphic designer.”
Still, we were deep in experimentation mode, laughing, curious, and slightly unhinged (OK maybe a whole lot unhinged), so we decided to keep going. We asked ChatGPT to create a cover for the joke book and... this is what it served up:
At this point, we had to test just how deep into the value chain ChatGPT was willing to go. Was it just here for laughs or was it ready to hustle? So we threw it another curveball: “Create an e-commerce website for the book and merchandize"
And before we could even type blink - boom! It dropped actual working code. HTML, CSS, product listings, checkout logic, the whole digital shebang. Like a fundi who shows up on time and brings their own tools. We were equal parts impressed and slightly concerned. Was this still a chatbot or had we just unlocked our own AI intern?
And just like that, we had ourselves a virtual bookstore. ChatGPT didn’t just write code, it built the foundation of a digital shopfront faster than a Nairobi hawker setting up before kanjo strikes. We tweaked a few bits here and there (mainly to make it look less like a high school IT project), and voila:
Here’s the website preview:
Clean, functional, and surprisingly legit for something born from dad jokes and chaos. Who knew AI and Kenyan humour would make such a powerful business duo? (Well! we do but...)
And then, because clearly we don’t know how to leave a good thing alone, someone said the magic words: “What if we performed this live?” You know, turn the jokes into an actual performance. Dad jokes on stage, Kenyan edition.
So, naturally, we asked ChatGPT to write a script for a live show. And in true overachiever fashion, it churned out an entire performance piece like it had been secretly studying at KNT.
Okay, let’s be honest though, the script wasn’t exactly Broadway-ready. The layout was a bit meh, and the dialogue could use a few more human touches. But still, it offered a solid jumping-off point. If anything, it reassured us that scriptwriters can breathe easy... for now. GPT-4o might be doing the most, but it hasn’t mastered the art of scripting quite yet.
Next, we asked it to create a marketing and launch plan and ChatGPT came dressed in full brand strategist energy. It whipped up social media post templates and a complete content kit for Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter for the old-schoolers), and more. This kit came fully loaded with: Launch posts, Product highlights and IG Reels/TikTok captions
The madness didn’t stop there, It went a whole step further and started imagining the stage design for the live performance. Yes, stage design. It was giving pavement philosophy meets stage banter. Like your cousin’s chaotic WhatsApp group chat, but now… live.
A simple setup with a spotlight, couch, stool, and a table holding tea and mandazi props.
The vibe? Chill. Sarcastic. Interactive. Proudly Kenyan.
We then asked ChatGPT to generate merchandise mock-ups, and it responded with a full visual lineup from T-shirts and mugs to tote bags and aprons.
Lastly, we asked it to create a white paper.
And of course, it did like a PhD candidate on Red Bull.
The result?
A full whitepaper titled:
A full whitepaper titled:
Harnessing AI for Creative Value Chains
A Case Study of Kenyans Don’t Cry, They Just Make Jokes.
It broke down the entire creative process from ideation to publication and showed how AI completely reshaped the value chain. The whitepaper served as a foundational outline, requiring further development, but offering a clear starting point.
Music Copyright @ Kendrick Lamar
Since we couldn’t generate a video directly within ChatGPT, we took one of our AI-generated images, dropped it into Runway, and brought it to life through animation. To give it attitude and rhythm, we paired it with Kendrick Lamar’s “They Not Like Us.” The result? A bold, rebellious tribute to the rise of AI-fueled creativity and unapologetically fresh.
But as the visuals danced to the beat, a new layer of thought hit us: Is this even legally safe?
That single decision, using a copyrighted track, opened up a Pandora’s box of questions about ownership, ethics, and responsibility in the age of AI. As creatives, we’re trained to think about copyright, attribution, royalties, and original work. But AI? It doesn’t come with moral guidelines. It mimics styles, replicates voices, borrows aesthetics, and even generates deepfake-level accuracy with terrifying ease. With the rise of generative audio tools, it’s now possible to create sound-alike tracks of public figures, entire fake interviews, or even new music in the style of dead artists all at the push of a button.
It’s thrilling for creatives experimenting with tools, but it’s also dangerous ground. Who owns the output? Is it the AI? The developer of the model? The person who prompted it? What happens when your face, voice, or art is used without consent? Imagine the weaponization of AI in disinformation, impersonation, or exploiting a creator’s identity without their knowledge or compensation.
This isn’t just theoretical, it’s already happening.
That’s why regulation is no longer optional. We need clear, global frameworks that define ownership of AI-generated content, protect intellectual property rights, and prioritize consent and transparency. Tech companies should be required to watermark AI outputs, disclose source data, and ensure that their training sets don’t exploit existing creative work without permission. Governments, too, must step up to build responsive legal systems that can adapt to AI’s pace not trail behind it.
But while laws are catching up, ethics start with us. As creatives, we have to be intentional in how we use AI; crediting original creators, questioning where our tools are pulling from, and making space for community-led dialogue on fair use, attribution, and compensation. AI can be a co-creator, but it shouldn’t become a digital thief. So yes, in just four hours, we built an entire project from scratch but the bigger story isn’t just about speed or style, it’s about accountability. In this new age of creation, we’re not just making content. We’re shaping the rules of engagement. And the sooner we own that, the better the creative future we build.
Image: Source
So what makes GPT-4o such a showoff? For starters, it’s not your average one-trick pony; it juggles text, images, and audio like a digital circus act with serious multitasking swagger. Drop in a photo, a napkin doodle, or even a voice note, and it won’t flinch. Instead, it reads, analyzes, remixes, and might even toss in a cheeky dad joke while it’s at it. It chats back in real time too, no laggy, robotic monotones here, just smooth, natural conversation like that witty friend who always has a comeback ready. Its vision and logic combo is next-level; it can process receipts, charts, handwritten notes, or that chaotic mess of open tabs on your desktop and still make sense of it all. And don’t even get us started on the memory, GPT-4o can hold onto a whopping 128K tokens of context, enough to remember every twist in your dad joke saga without needing a recap. It’s fast, affordable, and more reliable than your flaky Nairobi plug, plus it comes with a surprising level of emotional awareness, it picks up tone, reads the room, and responds like it gets you (most days). And for creatives, developers, and those brilliant 3 A.M. idea types, GPT-4o is a game-changer. From lesson plans to comic scripts to full e-commerce sites, it’s your AI Swiss Army knife, ready to co-create at the click of a prompt.
The real power of AI hit us when we realized this entire creative journey took just four hours. What once required a team, weeks of planning, and specialized tools is now possible in a single afternoon with nothing but curiosity, a laptop, and the right prompts. It’s impressive, yes but it’s also a stark reminder of how quickly the creative landscape is shifting. AI is accelerating the process and redefining the entire playing field.
All jokes aside though, AI is getting smarter by the day. It's doing amazing things, and let’s be honest, it can significantly cut staff costs. As creatives, we’re learning that there’s no longer room to be great at just one thing. With the speed and efficiency AI delivers compared to traditional creative timelines, it’s almost impossible to compete head-to-head. But that doesn’t mean surrender. It means strategy. We believe creatives should still hold the reins, maintaining autonomy in how things are done. Train your AI, guide it, let it boost your workflow but keep your voice at the center. AI should be your co-pilot, not the main act.
And with those few words (LOL)... now that you’ve made it to the end of this long (but we hope, wildly informative and entertaining) piece, we leave you with one final treat. Because if there’s one thing Kenyans are known for, it’s turning trauma into comedy gold. So, in true fashion, we present to you: Chat Got Jokes.
A hilarious little book born out of curiosity, chaos, and creativity.
This one’s for all you witty Kenyans out there who never cry... they just roast, rhyme, and reply with “sasa wewe.”
Special thanks to ChatGPT for keeping up, and to us... for poking the bear.
