A recent study led by two Australian researchers concludes that even with infinite time, monkeys wouldn't type Shakespeare. Their calculations suggest that even a global population of chimpanzees typing continuously wouldn’t come close to replicating the Bard's works, highlighting the misleading nature of the infinite monkey theorem.
Monkeys and Shakespeare: The Myth of Infinite Typing Debunked

Monkeys and Shakespeare: The Myth of Infinite Typing Debunked
New research by Australian mathematicians disproves the "infinite monkey theorem," revealing that monkeys can never realistically write Shakespeare.
In a revelation that challenges a long-held notion, Australian mathematicians have concluded that the famous "infinite monkey theorem" is not only improbable but essentially impossible. Traditionally, this thought experiment argued that given infinite time, a monkey randomly pressing keys could type out the complete works of William Shakespeare. However, in a newly published peer-reviewed study, researchers Stephen Woodcock and Jay Falletta determined that the timeline required for such an event exceeds the lifespan of the universe itself.
The study assessed the typing capabilities of a lone monkey and expanded its calculations to include around 200,000 chimpanzees currently inhabiting the planet. The findings indicate that even if each chimp were to type at a rate of one keystroke per second for all eternity, they would fall short of producing Shakespeare's literary contributions. Astoundingly, the probability of a single chimp typing the word "bananas" in its lifespan is just 5%. When it comes to creating a coherent sentence like "I chimp, therefore I am," the likelihood dwindles to one in 10 million billion billion.
Woodcock stated, “It is not plausible that, even with improved typing speeds or an increase in chimpanzee populations, monkey labor will ever be a viable tool for developing non-trivial written works.” The study used the heat death theory, a widely accepted hypothesis for the universe’s end, as a basis for its calculations. The heat death suggests a scenario where the universe will expand and cool until life as we know it ceases to exist.
These results place the infinite monkey theorem alongside other probability enigmas and paradoxes, exposing the disconnect between theoretical constructs of infinite resources and the factual constraints of the universe.