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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Austrian, Swiss and German authors have sent an open letter of protest to Amazon, protesting the use of 'authors and their books as a bargaining chip to exact deeper discounts.' Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Can a one-size-fits-all, low-price, consumer-dominated sales model support a diverse, innovative, challenging literary output?It is either an existential threat to intellectual freedom or a rustbelt media industry meeting its comeuppance at the hands of disruptive technology. The battle between... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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About 25% of the sales of a Holt memoir by a debut author have been in Iowa's bookstores, due to the heroic efforts of a Decorah bookseller Kate Rattenborg. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Some of the material from Laura Ingalls Wilder's autobiography, 'Pioneer Girl,' was used as a basis for the famed children's book series, but many of the more intense scenes were considered inappropriate for children. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Over the weekend, the 'New York Times' reported on a letter of protest, from authors in Germany, about a terms dispute between Amazon and the local publisher, Bonnier. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephan Eirik Clark, author of 'Sweetness #9' (Little, Brown; 9780316278751), will appear on NPR’s 'Fresh Air' on Monday, August 18. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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McFly band members Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter say they are thinking of introducing more... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The character of Alex Vause, portrayed by actress Laura Prepon on the show, is based on Wolters. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Stay' follows a teenage cellist, Mia, who must decide whether to die or move forward with life after becoming injured in a car accident. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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American titles hit the top of the bestseller charts across European markets in July. Diana Gabaldon’s "Written in My Own Heart’s Blood" came in at #1 on Germany’s fiction list. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Lee Child has come out swinging in the manner of Jack Reacher on The Passive Voice website... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has signed a book exploring the golden age of crime writing by author Martin... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google's Chromebook is on the up and up, according to the latest report published by analyst firm Gartner. This year, Gartner estimates that total Chromebook sales will hit 5.2 million, which is up 79 percent from 2013. Looking further out to 2017, the number of units sold should reach 14.4... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lindsey Kelk a the bestselling British Chick-Lit author and participated in HarperCollins' virtual Romance Festival. Here she reflects on the experience. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marybeth Hicks, author of 'Teachable Moments' (Howard Books, 9781476757438), will appear on Fox News Channel’s 'Hannity' on Wednesday, August 13. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The tussle between Amazon and the publishing conglomerate has been raging since spring. Heres an update on the fightA corporate boxing match broke from the ring and swelled into all-out rumpus last weekend, as readers and authors took sides in Amazon and Hachettes fight over the publishing... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon has responded to an open letter by Authors United, signed by 900-plus authors in support of Hachette, with their own open letter, Readers United. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Compares Hachette dispute to past paperback fears, but partially quoting George Orwell is a risky moveAmazon has hit back following an open letter from more than 900 authors criticising its licensing dispute with publisher Hachette, which was published as an ad in the New York Times.However, the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Amazon Book Team urges KDP authors and others to email HBG CEO Michael Pietsch to tell him what they think of the publisher’s attempt to what Amazon says is its effort to keep ebook prices artificially high. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There's no sign that Amazon and Hachette are close to burying their ebook hatchet, which has prompted the authors caught in the middle to speak up. One of those affected, Douglas Preston, penned an open letter to Jeff Bezos, requesting that he... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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