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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Angry Robot has made its first acquisition since the company was sold off from the Osprey Group. World English rights were signed in two books by Alyc Helms in a deal from Lindsay Ribar and Stefanie Diaz at Greenburger Associates and Anna Carmichael at Abner Stein. The first title, The Dragons... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Mothersbaugh, author of 'Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia' (Princeton Architectural Press, 9781616892623), will appear on 'Studio 360' on Saturday, October 25. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A team at MIT has begun work on microscopic bacteria-like robot which can be injected into the human body.MIT researchers are researching robotic bacteria that walk through human bodies that could help deliver drugs to different organs and even detect tumors. In a journal article published in... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nature Publishing Group and Palgrave Macmillan have made public data taken from an Author Insights survey questioning over 30,000 of their authors. The data – compiled last spring - has been made available publicly for the first time this week, to mark Open Access Week, and can be downloaded... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dan Brown's talk at the Sharjah Book Fair, his first fair appearance outside the US, will be televised throughout the Arab world. The post Dan Brown, Arabic Authors to Star at Sharjah Book Fair appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Twitter campaign to encourage more authors to sign up to Public Lending Right has been successful, according to Tracy Chevalier. Seventy authors registered for PLR in the first week of the campaign, led by Chevalier - an increase of 400% on the same period the year before. Chevalier, chair... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Women's Writing Festival in Matera, Italy was a showcase for the growing importance of women's fiction and self-publishing in Europe. The post Italian Writing Festival Takes Women, Self-Publishing Seriously appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Roy Keane and Roddy Doyle will be among the big names appearing at the second London Sports Writing Festival, taking place next week at Lord's Cricket Ground. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors United has sent out a letter from the author Daniel Handler - a.k.a. Lemony Snicket - encouraging writers to take part in Upstream, a new programme to support independent bookstores. Upstream, “cooked up” by Handler and “assorted interested parties”, aims to connect writers with their... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen Mansfield, author of 'The Miracle of the Kurds' (Worthy Publishing, 9781617950797), will appear on 'Hannity' on Thursday, October 16. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A little more than two months after the deal to sell the Perseus Books Group to the Hachette Book Group USA and Ingram fell apart, Perseus CEO David Steinberger has implemented a restructuring. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon KDP's bestselling author of all time, Barbara Freethy, has started a new imprint to oversee publication of her books in print formats. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rick Strassman, author of 'DMT and the Soul of Prophecy' (Inner Traditions, 9781594773426), will appear on 'Coast to Coast AM' on Sunday, October 12. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Emily Perkins about imaginary worlds, acting and the ebooks v print debate. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Frenchman has written about the German occupation of his country during World War II. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The portal will provide self-service, updated information for agents on authors, including confidential sales data, for all titles published by HBG. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mary Rasenberger, a lawyer and six-year Copyright Office and Library of Congress veteran, will take over as executive director of the Authors Guild on November 3. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Canadian authors say the Hachette-Amazon fight is hurting U.S. sales, particularly for writers looking to break into the American market. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yochi Dreazen, author of 'The Invisible Front: Love and Loss in an Era of Endless War' (Crown, ISBN 9780385347839), will appear on NPR’s 'Diane Rehm Show' on Thursday, October 9. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amid a flurry of seven-figure deals igniting this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair—many for books by first-time American authors—a short Spanish novel has generated buzz, and some hefty advances. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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