Renowned author Stephen Marche warns that AI-generated writing is poised to fundamentally automate the world of writing.
Observes Marche in “The New Yorker” Magazine: “Whatever field you are in, if it uses language, it is about to be transformed.
“The changes that are coming are fundamental to every method of speaking and writing that presently exists.”
Marche’s perspective was triggered, in part, by his use of Sudowrite.
It’s an AI-generated writing tool designed to mimic the style of any author.
Marche put Sudowrite through its paces, prompting it to imitate the style of novelist Franz Kafka — and was dazzled.
Observes Marche: “Brute computational power is why Sudowrite can write like Kafka.”
In other AI-generated writing news:
*EU Launches AI in Journalism Initiative: Thirty organizations in the European Union have launched a new initiative to advance the responsible use of AI in journalism.
The project, dubbed A14media, plans to network a team of researchers across Europe and beyond to help integrate next-generation AI into EU media.
Organizers, representing nine universities, nine research centers and 10 companies see AI-driven journalism:
~Enhancing insight into citizen activities, interests and opinions
~Strengthening democratic values like informed deliberation, political participation and decision making
~Enabling media to be more responsive to news consumers
~Helping news outlets compete with digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter and the like
~Fostering media diversity, freedom of expression and inclusiveness
*Coalition Collaborating on New AI and Journalism Applications: A coalition of universities and news organizations is collaborating to find more ways to integrate AI into the newsroom.
More than a dozen news outlets will be focusing in part on how AI can be used to automate the production and presentation of news stories.
And more than a half dozen additional news outlets will be exploring ways to innovate newsgathering and investigative reporting techniques.
The coalition features a number of heavy hitters in journalism, including Northwestern University, Bloomberg News, BBC, Radar and The Guardian.
“We’re looking forward to learning together how we might use AI and modular journalism to build new storytelling formats that engage, inform and entertain,” says Shirish Kulkarni, a journalist helping lead the effort.
The coalition plans to present its findings at the JournalismAI Festival, slated for November 2021.
*Online Talk on AI-Powered Science Journalism Tool Slated for May 4: Neil Maiden, a professor of digital creativity at City University of London, will be offering insight into a new AI tool developed for science journalists.
Essentially, the software uses AI to help journalists write more informed science stories.
Dubbed JECT.AI, the tool:
~Auto-discovers data from diverse sources that journalists can use in a science-based story they’re researching
~Auto-suggests an angle for a science story, based on a wide variety of ‘audience personas’
~Auto-suggests context and background for a science story
~Auto-suggests metaphors that journalists can use to illuminate scientific concepts associated
*Online Conference: AI and the Future of Journalism: A European Union council in Portugal is offering a two-day conference on AI in journalism May 11 – 12.
Topic tracks for the event include:
~How are AI-Based Technologies Being Used in Newsrooms?
~AI and Journalism: Nature, Role, Skills and Business Models
~AI and the Public Media Service
*Conference: AI and Journalism Beyond the Western World – May 5-6: The University of Helsinki is sponsoring an online conference on AI and journalism this week for those outside Western media.
Topic tracks for the event include:
~Automated Journalism — Beyond Western Countries
~News Reception and Authoritarian Control in a Hybrid Media System
~Complexity Politics and Robot Journalism
*AI Transcription for Adobe Premiere Pro: Video pros working with Adobe Premiere Pro now have an AI extension they can use to automate the production of written transcripts of their works.
The tool, from Simon Says, enables users to transcribe interviews and translate foreign-language recordings in 100 languages.
They can also use Simon Says to edit captions for accessibility and subtitle sequences for international distribution — in minutes.
Says Shamir Allibhai, CEO, Simon Says: “Transcription used to be frustrating.
Simon Says users don’t waste time on the tedium. They focus on their superpower: bringing stories to life.”
*Applied XL Snares $1.5 Million in Funding: Francesco Marconi, founder of AI toolmaking company Applied XL, has snared $1.5 million in funding for his start-up.
The company plans to develop AI tools to help life science journalists unearth newsworthy stories from the world’s never-ending torrent of digital data.
Observes Marconi: “At Applied XL, we are creating information systems that will work 24/7 to monitor billions of data points.
“Our intelligent systems are guided by principles defined by the computational journalists who program them and are vetted by experts in specific domains — combining both the high standards of a newsroom with the scale of Silicon Valley platforms.
“Our first swarm of editorial algorithms is currently monitoring clinical trials data to identify newsworthy events and state changes — in many instances before those insights appear in press releases or news coverage.”
No stranger to AI, Marconi helped spearhead AI implementations at The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press.
He’s also author of the book, “Newsmakers: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Journalism.”
*Copysmith Nets $10 Million in Funding: AI-generated writing firm Copysmith has landed $10 million in funding for auto-text generation tool.
Using the GPT-3 as its AI engine, Copysmith is designed to automate the writing of digital ads, product descriptions and the like.
(For an in-depth look at GPT-3, check out: “GPT-3 and AI Writing: Stunning, if Imperfect,” by Joe Dysart.)
*Strict New Rules Drafted for A.I. in Europe: The European Union has released a battery of new draft regulations designed to regulate the use of AI within its borders.
Observes Adam Satariano, a writer for The New York Times: “The 108-page policy is an attempt to regulate an emerging technology before it becomes mainstream.
“The rules have far-reaching implications for major technology companies that have poured resources into developing artificial intelligence, including Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft, but also scores of other companies.”
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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.