I don’t remember the name of the short story in an old sci-fi magazine but it was about a huge wall of computers which could answer any question. The computer answered with a print-out.
Of course, behind the computer was a compartment with a laconic guy and a typewriter.
Sounds like Roald Dahl.
I think that would make for a great Halloween or April Fool’s gag for an IT group.
Have some team wheel out an old-timey workstation with a monitior, keyboard, printer, and some sort of mysterious box with wires hooking everything up. The older the better.
Describe the device as an early failed AI project from [year] that had to be shelved because the company [lost millions] trying to [get it to work/market].
Invite people to ask it questions and receive answers via printout/readout.
In reality, it’s just a wireless connection to somebody (or group!) in the building waiting for questions and giving specious [but amusing, almost right, and work-safe] answers.
There was a MAD magazine story many, many years ago when computers were used for the first time to predict elections. When the election was over, you saw what was inside the mighty RCA computer; a guy, a bottle, and a dartboard.
I believe that’s an Isaac Asimov story.🤔