New experimental AI software from IBM and Pfizer can uncover early signs of Alzheimer’s by analyzing writing style, according to a piece in The New York Times.
The in-development code – along with similar experimental software – “might actually alert you to some changes that [indicate] you ought to then go do a more complete exam,” says Ajay Royyuru, vice president of health care and life sciences research, IBM.
Telltale signs of Alzheimer’s detected by the software included certain misspellings, repeated words and the use of simplified phrases in place of grammatically complex sentences, according to Royyuru.
In other AI-generated writing news:
*AI Software Auto-Writes Reports for Pharma Sales Team: Sales reps at Torrent Pharma now read automated reports analyzing their performance each month – thanks to AI-generated writing software from vPhrase.
Essentially, the AI software makes sense of sales data, which was previously presented at Torrent in often difficult-to-understand data spreadsheets.
Instead of puzzling over rows and columns of figures, each Torrent sales rep now gets an automated, written report each month, which details his or her performance against company target goals.
Also included is how each sales rep’s performance stacks-up against his/her colleagues.
The best part: All the info is presented in easy-to-understand writing.
For an in-depth look at how AI is automating the writing of business reports, check out “Business Reports That Write Themselves,” by Joe Dysart.
*Health and Safety Specialists Turning to Automated Reports: Add health and safety specialists in general business, industrial, construction and mining settings to the white-collar workers who are turning to AI-generated reports, according to this piece in Safety Solutions.
Essentially, the reports produced by AI-generated writing generally boast spot-on analysis with a reduced potential for errors, according to Simon Geragthy, a writer for Safety Solutions.
Observes Geragthy: “One way to reduce the human error and burden of error checking is to automate the process.
“A report generated by a combination of BI (business intelligence) tools and commentary generated by NLG (natural language generation) will always have the correct commentary associated with a chart.”
Adds Rob B. Lowe, a principal WHS (Welfare, Health and Safety) practitioner at Success Superpowers: If analysis and narrative generated by AI-generated writing is “accurate and consistent, then there is a greater chance of the messaging to be clear,” relevant and free of bias.
*Data Journalists Looking for More Than ‘Service Desk’ Status: While data journalists are often responsible for auto-generating extremely insightful graphs, infographics and other visuals from databases, they’re too often relegated to ‘service desk’ status at newsrooms, according to a new academic study.
Essentially, these newsmakers end up providing ‘nice-to-have’ graphic add-ons to stories that are credited to other journalists, according to the researchers.
The researchers observe: “While data journalism has reached a level of maturity, the role of data journalists in the news production cycle has to be more clearly defined.
“The tension with bylines, for example, suggests that the role of data journalists is not clear in some news organizations, or they are not fully embraced as ‘journalist’ or ‘editorial’ staff.
The solution, according to the researchers: “Effective collaboration amongst the data team or data journalists and the rest of the editorial team could make a significant difference in terms of quality — as well as quantity — of stories produced in a news organization.
“In order to do excellent and original data journalism work, a (data journalism) team needs to work with the story from the beginning to the end.”
*Creator of Google News Endows ‘Computational Journalism’ Chair at Georgia Tech: Krishna Bharat, creator of Google News and a research scientist at Google has endowed a chair in computational journalism at his alma mater.
Says Bharat: “We are now poised at the beginning of a new AI revolution, where machines can understand content and synthesize derivatives in powerful and useful ways.
“This is going to open up opportunities for research and innovation that will transform journalism going forward.
“Machine intelligence will help journalists scale their efforts to source stories and build compelling new narrative experiences based on data and in-depth reporting.
“Technology in newsrooms, platforms, and consumer apps will evolve how news content is packaged, distributed, monetized, personalized, and optimized for consumer satisfaction – and publisher revenue.”
*Close-Up: Pinpoint, a New AI Tool From Google: Search titan Google has rolled-out a new AI-powered tool that enables journalists to pinpoint specific insights amidst a sea of data.
Essentially, the search tool can race through all sorts of files – .PDFs, photos, emails and audio – to home-in on specific data a journalist is looking to glean from those files.
Pinpoint can also ‘read’ handwriting and convert audio recordings of interviews for easy analysis and search.
*AI in PR Webinar Live Nov. 18: PR Pro Kerry Sheehan is hosting a live Webinar on the ethical implications of AI in PR later this month.
Sheehan is the artificial intelligence in PR chair at The Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
She’s also a member of the International Data Science Foundation.
The focus of Sheehan’s Webinar is CIPR’s recently released “Ethics Guide to Artificial Intelligence.”
*Journalism AI Organizes Online Festival, Dec. 7-11: Journalism think-tank Polis is putting together an online AI journalism fest featuring a look at the latest in AI news tools and techniques.
The free event will also feature high-profile guests who are working at the intersection of journalism and AI.
Organizers also plan to record all the sessions and post them to YouTube for post-festival viewing.
For more info, check out: Journalism AI Festival 2020.
*Making the Case for AI as a Journalist Tool: AI-generated writing firm Narrativa insists that AI is a tool that helps journalists – and is not a job threat.
Narrativa’s core assertion: “Ultimately, the work of a journalist is essential and will not change.
“What will change is the way in which they practice their profession, using a model that combines technology and research to achieve better results.
“The journalist will be much more intelligent — thanks to AI — and will be able to use tools that already exist to analyze patterns and extract information.
“In this way, their work will have more impact.”
*Online Workshop Slated on News Automation: Four academics specializing in AI and automated journalism are slated to speak Nov. 13 on news automation.
The online workshop focuses on the book “Automating the News,” by Nicholas Diakopoulos, who’ll be moderating the event.
The other featured speakers are:
*Andrea Guzman, a communications professor at Northern Illinois University
*Jeremy Gilbert, a journalism professor at Northwestern University
*Eddy Borges-Rey, a professor of journalism and strategic communication at Northwestern University in Qatar
*Special Feature: Company Reports That Write Themselves
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–Joe Dysart is editor of RobotWritersAI.com and a tech journalist with 20+ years experience. His work has appeared in 150+ publications, including The New York Times and the Financial Times of London.