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Robots Are Writing the News and Nobody’s Talking About It
Activist Post ^ | Elias Marat

Posted on 02/08/2019 10:20:47 PM PST by Windflier

As journalists face increased layoffs despite the growing appetite for up-to-the-minute, timely news, a new trend has quietly been disrupting the news industry.

Enter the automated reporter.

News organizations are increasingly turning toward artificial intelligence (AI) for production, using a variety of new automated systems to pump out content with minimal need for direct human input.

According to a report by The New York Times, Bloomberg News relies on a system called Cyborg to produce about a third of its articles.

Most of Cyborg’s output takes the form of company earnings reports that are rife with percentages, charts, and other financial data that can be crunched down into a news story quickly and accurately.

But Bloomberg isn’t alone. Increasingly, major news agency like Reuters and Associated Press, along with a number of newspapers such as Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, are using algorithms to crunch out news on everything from local minor league sports games to earthquakes.

Even Patch, which publishes local news nationwide, relies on AI to draft anywhere between 5 to ten percent of its stories for the 800 communities that it serves.

Last year, the Washington Post took first place in the category of “Excellence in Use of Bots” at the Global BIGGIES Awards for its use of Heliograf, a robot reporter that was used in the Post’s coverage of the 2016 Olympic Summer Games and that year’s election. The judges hailed Heliograf’s work for the Post, noting that its “set of examples and explanations are eloquently written and backed. The results also seem quite promising. Very impressive.”


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Science
KEYWORDS: ai; msm; robots
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To: Ken H

IIRC, Gort was pretty hard on a whole bunch of soldiers.

Is that what you really want?


41 posted on 02/09/2019 8:06:57 AM PST by null and void (Hey AOC? If socialism is so grand, why are Guatemalans coming here instead of going to Venezuela?)
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To: Yaelle
Pretty simple algorithm: topical story of the day + blame Trump for it - ready to publish.

Global warming needs to be in there somewhere.

42 posted on 02/09/2019 8:07:52 AM PST by null and void (Hey AOC? If socialism is so grand, why are Guatemalans coming here instead of going to Venezuela?)
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To: Windflier

Good post!


43 posted on 02/09/2019 8:17:28 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Windflier
"In other news, wheat production has exceeded all expectation."

44 posted on 02/09/2019 9:18:57 AM PST by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
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To: Sirius Lee
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords, and look forward to news that is free of grammatical errors.

Heh...

45 posted on 02/09/2019 11:00:12 AM PST by Windflier (Pitchforks and torches ripen on the vine. Left too long, they become black rifles.)
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To: pepsi_junkie

Good work!


46 posted on 02/09/2019 11:01:34 AM PST by Windflier (Pitchforks and torches ripen on the vine. Left too long, they become black rifles.)
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To: Bender2

Robby the Robot... One of my favorite toys when I was a kid...

Also had the robot from “Lost in Space” too.


47 posted on 02/09/2019 11:19:31 AM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: Windflier

Zombie Robot Reporters. Nobody seems surprised.


48 posted on 02/09/2019 12:20:21 PM PST by GingisK
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To: Windflier; Yaelle
< start program>

Orange Man Bad!!!

< end program>

49 posted on 02/09/2019 2:28:04 PM PST by Hardastarboard (Break it off in 'em, Brett. They've earned it, and you've earned it.)
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To: Windflier

No wonder there is so much fake news.

F Chuck Tod is a robot.

It all makes sense now.

5.56mm


50 posted on 02/09/2019 2:30:19 PM PST by M Kehoe (DRAIN THE SWAMP! BUILD THE WALL!)
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To: Windflier
Replaced by robots.


51 posted on 02/09/2019 2:33:03 PM PST by Drew68
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To: NFHale
We all thank you... and ask you send cash as our bar bill is coming due--
52 posted on 02/09/2019 2:46:41 PM PST by Bender2 ("I've got a twisted sense of humor, and everything amuses me." RAH Beyond this Horizon)
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To: Drew68

Has no children that survived the womb.


53 posted on 02/09/2019 8:48:58 PM PST by null and void (Hey AOC? If socialism is so grand, why are Guatemalans coming here instead of going to Venezuela?)
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To: Bender2

Ah, memories...!!!


54 posted on 02/09/2019 11:18:18 PM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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