Many professionals in scientific and creative fields fear a near future where artificial intelligence takes over their jobs. But not University of Wisconsin-Madison informatics data scientist and improv comedian Ben Rush.
Rush founded Amalgam Improv in 2024, a Madison improv group designed to let people experiment and practice in a comfortable environment with friends. In the time since, he’s found AI to be a valuable tool in speeding up mundane tasks so he has more time for the human side — his comedy — to shine through.
While Rush is an AI user, he is very strict about what he asks it to produce for him. “I’m not trying to have [AI] take my brain’s place. [It’s] an assistant and editor instead of the main idea driver,” Rush said. He has attempted to practice improv scenes with a chat bot, but said it was “terrible.”
Instead of generating comedy, Rush uses AI to be more efficient with necessary background tasks, since he spearheads most events for Amalgam by himself. He finds AI helpful in polishing documents and cowriting, often asking “What am I missing?” Marketing ideas, branding ideas, scripts for newsletters and color palettes are a few other areas he asks AI to brainstorm.
Rush knows stats and coding, but not front-end web design or marketing. On the Amalgam website, there is an “Improv Map” showcasing 275 improv groups across the world. This map is mostly created with AI, and Rush then checks over the code to approve it. Alongside the map is a form where groups submit their information to be added to the map; instead of spending hours fact-checking and confirming everything, Rush uses AI to double check for him.
Rush also leads seminars and workshops for scientists, some focused on AI and some on humor. Rush said the heart of his workshops are to “lower the barrier” of communication and humor for scientists, who have been told that those are not areas they will excel in.
“There is a lot of pressure to do it right because we have built a culture in science, which I disagree with, that you have to look smart to do it. People can get intimidated during seminars to ask ‘dumb questions,’ but true communication is also the person presenting the information in a way the audience can digest,” Rush said.
Rush has been working in the radiology department of UW-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health for almost a year. He said he found his niche in machine learning and AI during his biology statistics-oriented post-doctorate.
After initially using AI to translate different coding languages, Rush now uses AI daily to help him code, brainstorm and manage large research projects. “Ideas for building lab culture, planning events, doing all the things I don’t like doing… all that can be automated via AI,” he said.
Rush has always had an interest in comedy. “The Simpsons” and “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” were constantly on growing up, and in 2020, he took a class titled “Improv for Scientists” to start taking his comedic career more seriously.
“That class was the permission I needed to get out of a perfectionist mindset. The best thing I learned from that class was just being comfortable in chaos, and just knowing that most likely, things will work out,” Rush said.
He now applies this mindset to how he tackles AI. Rush believes doing improv has helped him become a better data scientist, especially when it comes to working with AI.
He said the ability to translate scientific jargon is one of AI’s greatest potentials.
While Rush uses AI often, he still does not give it his full confidence and always makes sure to check over everything it gives him.
“I can have AI help me create an automated newsletter that is still fun to read that saves me an hour or two a week, and I can instead spend that hour or two building a community and supporting my friends and people who I really love,” Rush said. He employs AI to do busywork so he can spend more time on what he enjoys — improve, art and community.
