Artificial intelligence can now write fiction and journalism. But does it measure up to George Orwell – and can it report on Brexit?Will androids write novels about electric sheep? The dream, or nightmare, of totally machine-generated prose seemed to have come one step closer with the recent announcement of an artificial intelligence that could produce, all by itself, plausible news stories or fiction. It was the brainchild of OpenAI – a nonprofit lab backed by Elon Musk and other tech entrepreneurs – which slyly alarmed the literati by announcing that the AI (called GPT2) was too dangerous for them to release into the wild, because it could be employed to create “deepfakes for text”. “Due to our concerns about malicious applications of the technology,” they said, “we are not releasing the trained model.” Are machine-learning entities going to be the new weapons of information terrorism, or will they just put humble midlist novelists out of business?Let’s first take a step back. AI has been the next big thing for so long that it’s easy to assume “artificial intelligence” now exists. It doesn’t, if by “intelligence” we mean what we sometimes encounter in our fellow humans. GPT2 is just using methods of statistical analysis, trained on huge amounts of human-written text – 40GB of web pages, in this case, that received recommendations from Reddit readers – to predict what ought to come next. This probabilistic approach is how Google Translate works, and also the method... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Suede bassist and author on writing without a safety net, terrifying himself for his next novel and which of the Thursday Murder Club books – by his brother Richard – he likes bestMat Osman is, along with Brett Anderson, a founding and current member of the band Suede, and the author of two... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-03-23 18:00:26 UTC ]
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Bestselling author and Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal—credited by many with changing our understanding of both animals and humans through a number popular, groundbreaking books—died on March 14. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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When it came time for debut author Brent Underwood to record the audiobook for his book 'Ghost Town Living,' about the California mining town he calls home, he decided to build a makeshift studio in the long-abandoned silver mine at the heart of his story. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Bird is the award-winning author of seven books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning book that served as the basis for Christopher Nolan’s film 'Oppenheimer,' which won seven Academy Awards last night, including best picture. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Leslie Jamison’s new memoir Splinters follows the aftermath of divorce and the awakening of motherhood, but it explores desire more than it does any kind of death. Jamison wants to make meaning, to connect, to love, to feel, to mother, to write, and to revise her life endlessly. There are losses... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-08 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Rebecca Yarros's publisher, Entangled Publishing, has signed agreements with 12 self-published romance authors to acquire print rights to their bestselling e-books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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There is a disturbing trend that has emerged in the literary world as of late. Let’s call it the “Fragmented Non-Fiction Art History” book. These titles look good on bookshelves, with their aesthetically-inclined covers and trendy lineup of female artists they purport to be about. The covers are... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-05 09:53:47 UTC ]
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Madeline McIntosh, Nina von Moltke, and Don Weisberg—most recently at Penguin Random House US and Macmillan, respectively—have joined forces to form a new publishing company. As its name implies, the publisher will operate outside of traditional publishing business models. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Over 500 members of the KidLit community—including Sabaa Tahir, Angie Thomas, and Jason Reynolds—have signed an open letter to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, calling for the organization to break its silence on the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has so far claimed the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-03-04 19:00:45 UTC ]
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“I Don’t Want To Die Poor” author Michael Arceneaux discusses his upcoming book and his fight for representation. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2024-03-04 10:45:07 UTC ]
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Allstora, an e-commerce platform with a wholesale membership model, promises to split profits with authors and offer books at steep discounts. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A writer hoodwinked the internet into thinking the singer nabbed his book title but he’s not the first author to pull a controversial publicity stuntOn Wednesday, writer Gabriel Smith shared what at first glance seemed to be an email sent by the singer Charli XCX, asking if she could use the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-03-01 18:33:32 UTC ]
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Summit publisher Judy Clain’s inaugural acquisition, a debut novel titled ‘Great Black Hope’ by Rob Franklin, bodes well for storied imprint’s relaunch. Clain, previously editor-in-chief of Little, Brown, called Franklin “the writer we dreamed of publishing” at Summit. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-01 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Next year, SenLinYu’s Harry Potter fic Manacled will disappear from Archive of Our Own. They don’t want to take it down, but it’s the only way to keep others from profiting off of the work. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2024-02-28 20:42:17 UTC ]
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Changes in Spotify's terms of use for its Findaway Voices audiobook product trigger concerns from the Society of Authors in London. The post UK’s Society of Authors: More Clarity in Spotify’s Terms appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-02-22 15:16:42 UTC ]
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I always imagined, that, given the choice, I would read my own audiobook. I had heard memoirs often sounded best in the author’s throat—something about the familiar tang of the hardship unspooled. But had I written a memoir? A bookseller acquaintance asked me that a year before the publication... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-22 09:54:39 UTC ]
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When some books, including best sellers, were conspicuously absent from the science fiction Hugo Awards last year, writers and fans became suspicious. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-02-17 13:11:43 UTC ]
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His blockbuster Bible study, guiding readers to learn and live God's will, has sold millions worldwide since 1990. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Leaked emails reveal organisers of leading science fiction and fantasy awards flagged works of a ‘sensitive political nature’Leaked emails from the organisers of the prestigious Hugo awards for science fiction and fantasy suggest several authors were excluded from shortlists last year after they... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-02-15 18:16:42 UTC ]
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A federal judge in California has dismissed a host of claims made by several groups of authors in a now consolidated lawsuit and gave the authors until March 13 to file an amended complaint. The suit’s core claim of direct infringement—which Open AI did not seek to dismiss—remains active. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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