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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Brian Krebs, author of 'Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime—from Global Epidemic to Your Front Door' (Sourcebooks, 9781402295614), will appear on 'Fresh Air with Terry Gross' and 'CBS This Morning' on Tuesday, November 18. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What's it like to sell over 200 million books worldwide? Dan Brown speaks with Publishing Perspectives about his writing life in the wake of enormous success. The post Dan Brown on the Writing Life as a Global Megaseller appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) has unveiled its Ethical Author code, which includes guidance on how self-published writers should conduct themselves when it comes to reviews, book promotion and more. Ethical Author... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Gustave Speth, author of 'Angels by the River' (Chelsea Green Publishing, 9781603585859), will appear on NPR’s 'Science Friday' on Friday, November 14. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a rare move for the publishing world, Land Rover has sponsored "An Ice Cream War" novelist William Boyd's new short fiction and turned it in into a gorgeous interactive campaign. The post Land Rover commissions novelist William Boyd’s latest appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a delightfully profane interview, Adam Mansbach reveals his secrets for keeping your creative edge after a huge hit.In 2011, a children's book parody took the Internet and bookshelves on a glorious joyride of profanity, driven by a nation of parents pulling their collective hair out over... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The plane crash death of Myles Munroe, prominent minister and prolific author, has saddened his publishers and readers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When the winner of the C$100,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize was announced at a gala in Toronto last night, the spotlight was on a new writer, Sean Michaels, and his debut novel 'Us Conductors,' published by Random House Canada. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Community groups are set to take over the running of at least seven of the 11 libraries earmarked for closure in Liverpool. Campaigners who have fought to keep the libraries open – including authors Cathy Cassidy and Alan Gibbons – have welcomed the news, but urged that more details on the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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You can take the book out of the library but you can't take the library out of the book.Krissy Wilson's Tumblr project, The Art Of Google Books, works on our nostalgia for both the printed word and our (now long gone) wide-eyed awe at digitizing it. Google Books was born in 2004, when accessing... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Margarita Carrillo Arron, author of 'Mexico: The Cookbook' (Phaidon, 9780714867526), will appear on NPR's 'Morning Edition' on Monday, November 10. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kim Zetter, author of 'Countdown to Zero Day' (Crown, 9780770436179) will appear on 'Marketplace' on Monday, November 10. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lara Jo Regan, author of 'Dogs in Cars' (Countryman Press, 9781581572797) will appear on NBC’s 'Today' on Friday, November 7. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Film rights to Greg Mitchell’s new work of nonfiction, tentatively titled 'The Tunnels: JFK vs. CBS & NBC,' have already sold to FilmNation Entertainment. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author escort Isabel Keating leaves a legacy as she retires after 35 years of accompanying around the Twin Cities authors on tour. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Quarto Group has appointed Sally Dwyer into the newly created role of group director of people. Starting with immediate effect, Dwyer will be responsible for Quarto’s human resources strategy across its businesses in the UK, the US, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Dwyer joins Quarto... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eric Lichtblau, author of 'The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler’s Men' (HMH, 9780547669199) will appear on NPR’s 'Fresh Air' on Wednesday, November 5. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Andrew Wylies attack on Amazon (Top literary agent likens Amazons brutal tactics to Isis, 31 October) portrays an opinion of the company that is directly contrary to my experience as an author.My specialist non-fiction book (Dentist on the Ward: An introduction to the General Hospital for Core... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#list price
How do successful authors keep their writing on track? Twenty-three client authors of the The Andrew Lownie Literary Agency outline their writing habits. The post What Are Your Writing Habits? appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon Rich, author of 'Spoiled Brats' (Little, Brown, 9780316368629), will appear on WNYC’s 'Leonard Lopate Show' on Monday, November 3, and NBC’s 'Late Night with Seth Meyers' on Tuesday, November 4. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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