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 ]
News tagged with:
#big thing
#statistical analysis
#web pages
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 ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#google books
#printed word
#ebook format
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 ]
More news stories like this |
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 ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#countryman press
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 ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#film rights
#tentatively titled
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 ]
More news stories like this |
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 ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#list price
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 ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fresh air
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 ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#human resources
#group director
#hong kong
#recently held
#deutsche bank
#marcus leaver
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 ]
More news stories like this |
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 ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#late night
#seth meyers
Cheltenham Literature Festival had a “record-breaking” 2014, with almost 140,000 tickets sold, up 7% from the year before. People from all bar three UK postcodes attended the festival, and both Saturdays of the 10-day event saw more than 20,000 in attendance. Meanwhile Waterstones, the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#7% year
#sales increase
Michael Connelly, author of 'The Burning Room' (Little, Brown and Company, 9780316225939) will appear on 'CBS This Morning' on Monday, November 3. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#michael connelly
#burning room
We need to reflect the reality of our communities, says The Fault in Our Stars writer John Green in video backing social media-led We Need Diverse Books campaignAll readers need to know that they too can be the heroes of a story, according to the bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#john green
#diverse books
#bestselling author
#increase diversity
#childrens books
Tributes have been paid to author and former publisher Raleigh Trevelyan, who has died aged 91. Trevelyan, who passed away on October 23rd in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, worked at Jonathan Cape and Michael Joseph, and also wrote a number of books for Faber, including a wartime memoir and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jonathan cape
#michael joseph
Philippe de Montebello and Martin Gayford, authors of 'Rendez-vous with Art' (Thames & Hudson, 9780500239247), will appear on 'Charlie Rose' on Thursday, October 30. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#thames hudson
#charlie rose
Chris Baty, author of 'No Plot? No Problem: A Low-stress, High-velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days' (Chronicle Books, 9781452124773) will appear on KERA-FM's 'Think' radio show Wednesday, October 29. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#chronicle books
Publishers and retailers will aim to prevent ebook prices from soaring when a new European-wide VAT law on digital products is introduced on 1st January. Following a European Commission ruling dating back to 2008, ebooks and other digital services—including broadcasting and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#e-book prices
#digital products
#1st january
Tanya Holland, author of 'Brown Sugar Kitchen' (Chronicle Books, 9781452122342), will appear on NBC's 'Today' on Tuesday, October 28. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#chronicle books
David Walliams, Malorie Blackman and Debi Gliori are among the authors on this year's shortlist for the Red House Children's book prize. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#david walliams
#malorie blackman
#book prize
Patrick Rothfuss is the author of the mega-bestselling novels The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear, and is currently hard at work on The Doors of Stone, the final volume in his epic fantasy trilogy The Kingkiller Chronicle. In the latest episode of Geek's Guide to the Galaxy he discusses... Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2014-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book appeared
#patrick rothfuss
#final volume
#latest episode