Thursday, July 20, 2023

Media: "Google Is Testing AI-Powered 'Genesis' For Journalists That Can Write News Articles"

I thought they started doing that with sports reporting years ago: "In the big inning..."

From Benzinga, July 20:

Alphabet Inc‘s Google is currently testing a product, internally known as “Genesis” that employs artificial intelligence technology to generate news stories.

The tool is being pitched to news organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times reports.

Genesis: The AI News Generator: Genesis is designed to ingest information, such as details of current events, and generate news content. This innovative tool could potentially revolutionize the way news is produced and disseminated....

....MORE

Yes, here's "AP report details best practices and challenges of automating reporting on earnings reports and minor-league baseball coverage ".

I mean this has been going on for quite a while. Here's a Wharton link from 2014: "Robo-journalists: Beyond the Quakebot" and another from 2013: "Automating the Newsroom: The AP's Robot Copy Editor."

One from 2019:
Media: "Forbes is building more AI tools for its reporters"
You can see the original headline in the URL:
https://digiday.com/media/forbes-built-a-robot-to-pre-write-articles-for-its-contributors/

And a whole bunch more (you can tell from the low I.Q. colloquialisms and typos that this blog is probably written by a human):

"Commerzbank Replacing Human Research Analysts With Artificial Intelligence"
Sorry, that's a bridge too far, it's time to smash the looms 'puters.
(metaphor party mix) 

And as noted back in 2016's:
Artificial Intelligence and the Role Of the Literary Critic
First they came for the literary theorists and I did not speak out because--well, you know the drill.*

*First they came for the journalists and I did not speak out-
Because I was not a journalist.

Then they came for the ad agency creatives and I did not speak out-
Because I was not an ad agency creative. (see below)

Then they came for the financial analysts and I
said 'hang on one effin minute'.

Previously:
"We Trained A Robot To Write Like Tom Friedman"
The Associated Press Is Leading the Charge to Deploy Robo-journalists
According to the AP, no journos were harmed in the making of this venture
"AP's 'robot journalists' are writing their own stories now"
And Here Come the Robo-journalists "The CIA Invests in Narrative Science and Its Automated Writers"
Robot Lobbyists Say Robots Good, Create Jobs 
Sure, MoneyBeat Says Their Posts Are Not Written by Robots But How Can We Know?
Automation Steals Jobs: Röböts Playing Motörhead
Washington Post considered using robot sportswriters
A Deep Dive Into the Future of RoboAnalysts (will entry level hedgies still command $353K to start?)
A Job the Robots Won't Take: Become a Financial Charlatan
Robot Writing Moves from Journalism to Wall Street
"The automation of creativity: scary but inevitable"   

Though, as we saw in 2017:
Still a Few Bugs in the Robo-Journalist Algorithm
From the Los Angeles Times' twitter feed:

The comments are surprisingly kind, e.g.

I'm really shaken up by this news.

Who's fault is this?

Richter must be rolling over in his grave.

In a state of after-shock. 

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