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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Craig Davidson, writing under the pseudonym Nick Cutter, has been named the winner of the inaugural James Herbert Award for Horror Writing for his book The Troop (Headline). The award was set up in honour of the late horror writer James Herbert, and aims to discover and publicise a new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Writer Abiola Bello and publicist Helen Lewis will launch The Author School, a “creative and innovative new community for aspiring, self-published and published authors”, during London Book Fair. The school will involve classes, workshops, one-to-one tutorials and online courses, with the first... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Meg Cabot, Sophie Kinsella, Malorie Blackman, and Dav Pilkey were among the authors celebrating new books and meeting international publishers in Bologna. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House delivered a "strong performance in its first full year after the merger", media group Bertelsmann has said. Penguin Random House chief executive Markus Dohle said the combined businesses had "made a powerful statement: We are stronger together" describing 2014 as "a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Creators of the Clean Reader app will no longer sell books after receiving complaints from authors that their works were being altered without permission. The post UK Authors Force Clean Reader App to Stop Some Book Sales appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookseller reports that the median advance for traditionally published UK authors is less than 6,600 pounds, based on the early results of a new survey The post Survey Says Median Author Advance in UK under £6,600 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Annie Cohen-Solal, author of 'Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel' (Yale University Press, 9780300182040) will appear on PBS's 'Charlie Rose' on Friday. March 27. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Copyright, fair contracts for authors, and libraries were among the points addressed by politicians at a hustings hosted by the Society of Authors (SoA) and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) last night (24th March). The event saw writers given the opportunity to question... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The median advance for traditionally published authors is “well under £6,600”, according to early findings of a survey into authors’ attitudes towards their publisher. The survey also found that bigger publishers pay more. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The cherished French children’s book author and editor of hundreds of books Grégoire Solotareff offers his tips for creating books fore very young readers. The post Keys to Writing Books for Very Young Readers appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At the Salon du Livre in Paris, a new program introduced indie publishers to agents and scouts, while authors continued protesting poor contracts. The post Salon du Livre Paris: Indie Intros a Success, Authors Continue Protests appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The debut of the trailer of the film adaptation shot John Green's 2008 novel to the #2 spot. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The eighth annual NYC Teen Author Festival featured events throughout the week of March 15-23. Several authors participated, and shared photos from the event across social media. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Family Christian Stores bankruptcy drama continues to reverberate across the Christian publishing world. Some publishers owed money by FCS are holding back royalty payments, to try to forestall their own financial hiccups. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Denmark-based Egmont Group said it achieved its “best year ever” in 2014, as pre-tax profit for the year totalled €127m (£92.5m), a 36% increase from 2013. All divisions recorded improvements in their underlying operations and overall revenues for 2014 grew 10% to €1.6bn (£1.2bn). Ebitda... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With meager advances, often just 500 euros, and royalty rates of 3-8%, French children's book authors have much to complain about. The post French Children’s Book Authors Suffer Pint-sized Payments appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books about the natural world are now huge sellers, tapping into a new appreciation for the countryside and scepticism about material wealthBondage is so last year. Publishers who spent much of the past year in search of the next Fifty Shades of Grey are now seeking to exploit another literary... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Canongate will publish three books by the late American author Charles Bukowski, based on his letters. Publishing director Francis Bickmore signed the books in a deal with Catherine Barbosa-Ross at HarperCollins US. On Writing is a collection based on previously unpublished letters, and will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A debut author has arranged a marketing and publicity campaign she estimates is worth £200,000 to support the release of her book, and which her agent said “must be unique for a first-time author”. Janet Kelly’s Dear Beneficiary, about an older woman who has a relationship with a Nigerian man... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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