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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In a reorganization at S&S that sees the merger of the house's digital division with its corporate marketing department, Liz Perl has been promoted, and Ellie Hirschhorn, executive v-p and chief digital officer, is leaving the company. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'The Kindle is trying to reduce friction for reading a whole book, and it’s working,' Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said at a conference yesterday. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pat Hackett, editor of 'The Andy Warhol Diaries' (Twelve, 9781455561452), will appear on Bravo’s 'Watch What Happens: Live' on Thursday, December 4. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Kensal Rise Library building is up for auction this month, with a guide price of £1.15m. Although planning permission has been granted to convert the majority of space in the building into flats, it still has a dedicated space on the ground floor earmarked for community use, which the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW talked to Mark Schultz about his new memoir, 'Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Schlimm, author of 'The Ultimate Beer Lover's Happy Hour' (Sourcebooks, 9781402296321), will appear on 'Watch What Happens: Live' on Monday, December 1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 26 rights deals for Milena Busquets' short debut novel have raised eyebrows — but looking at the author's passion and personal history, it makes sense The post Big Rights Deals for Barcelona Author’s Debut Novel appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With unit sales of print books up about 2% in the first 47 weeks of 2014, year over year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan, the industry is poised to post its first increase in print sales since 2008. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors David Mitchell, Michel Faber and Malorie Blackman are among a total of 36 writers who will be socializing with customers at a Waterstones Christmas shopping event in London tonight (26th November). The Waterstones Piccadilly “Christmas Shopping Extravaganza” from 6pm – 10pm tonight,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Orchard Books has acquired Thirteen Days of Midnight by debut YA author Leo Hunt. The book is about a boy called Luke Manchett who, when his father dies, acquires $6m and a collection of ghosts. The eight spirits want revenge for their enslavement by Manchett senior and Luke has just 13 days to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amber Caravéo, former editorial director at Orion Children’s Books, is launching a competition for unpublished writers at her new agency, with judges from Puffin, Orion and Macmillan Children’s Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Miami Book Fair featured numerous international voices — from Haiti to Germany — as well as all of the 2014 National Book Award winners and finalists. The post Int’l Voices, NBA Authors Star at Miami Book Fair appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Canongate has signed a novel from bestselling Turkish author Ahmet Altan, the first time one of his books will be translated into English. Publishing director Francis Bickmore signed world rights excluding Turkey and Greece from Levent Yilmaz. Rights have already been sold to HarperCollins... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Campaign group Authors United will continue its “efforts to persuade” the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department in the US to look into Amazon’s market practices, saying there are "still many open questions about Amazon's market power". The group was set up by American author Douglas... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Patterson, author of 'Hope to Die' (Little Brown, 9780316210966) and 'House of Robots' (LBYR, 9780316405911), will appear on NBC’s 'Today' on Monday, November 24. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Major deals have become the new normal in book publishing, thanks to steeper competition for fewer high-profile projects Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dubbed the “Indie Rock Stars” module, the program will launch with the participation of some 90 authors, and will include at least 18 New York Times bestselling books and more than 30 award-winning novels. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barbie has been an astronaut and doctor, but when it comes to programming, she just needs a man's help, according to a children's book. Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2014-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jessye Norman, author of 'Stand Up Straight and Sing' (HMH, 9780544003408) will appear on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' on Thursday, November 20. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Angry Robot has signed a six-figure deal for three more novels by Wesley Chu. The deal is the biggest that the sci-fi publisher has done. World English rights to the the new series, beginning with The Rise of Io, were signed from agent Russell Galen, Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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