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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More than a thousand readers have signed a petition in support of Amazon in its dispute with Hachette. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the NYTimes, Felicia R. Lee asks if the 'new wave of African writers' with an international appeal are drawing attention away from African-American voices. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book world is mourning Matt Richell, killed yesterday in a freak surfing accident in Sydney. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two weeks ago bestselling author Douglas Preston began quietly circulating a letter to other writers that encourages readers to write to Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A second petition about the Amazon Hachette dispute has been launched - this time a pro-Amazon... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book world is mourning Matt Richell, killed yesterday in a freak surfing accident in Sydney. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three librarians with novels published in 2014 gathered at ALA Vegas on Saturday afternoon to share their experiences as authors navigating the library world and vice versa. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Freshman Fifteens, a group of 15 authors with debut Young Adult novels in 2015, are teaming with the online writing community Wattpad to organize The Common Room Teen Mentoring Contest, a writing and mentoring contest that opens for entries on June 30. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors Jacqueline Wilson and Alan Gibbons have spoken out in defence of libraries as part of a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ron Capps, author of "Seriously Not All Right: Five Wars in Ten Years, A Memoir" (Schaffner Press, 9781936182589) will appear on PBS's "Tavis Smiley" on Monday, June 30. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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And whoever comes out on top, you can bet the poor old writer won't be any better offA few weeks ago, we published a book called Denglisch for Better Knowers, a (hopefully) humorous book about how the English language could be improved by taking new words and concepts from German. Like "ear... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Paula Marcoux, author of "Cooking with Fire" (Storey Publishing, 9781612121581) will appear on NPR's "The Splendid Table" on Saturday, June 28. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novels by Kate Atkinson, Stephen King and Muriel Spark have all had namesakes. Should writers adopt the imitator-proof JK Rowling approach instead?People first started to notice last year when Kate Atkinson's Life After Life coincided in the US with Jill McCorkle's Life After Life, which had... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Europa Editions UK has acquired its first title by a British writer, a historical fiction novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marc Weingarten, a comic with 31 years experience, discusses the difference between crafting jokes and writing his first novel. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bruce Kraig, author of "Man Bites Dog: Hot Dog Culture in America" (Taylor Trade Publishing, 9781589799325) will appear on "CBS This Morning Saturday" on Saturday, June 21. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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U.K.-based Angry Robot Books is closing its young adult and crime/mystery imprints, effectively immediately. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sci-fi and fantasy publisher Angry Robot is closing its Exhibit A and Strange Chemistry imprints... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Columnist of 20 years given ultimatum by Sydney Morning Herald: its us or the Saturday PaperRichard Ackland says he has ended 20 years as a columnist for Fairfax Media after the Sydney Morning Herald asked him to choose between writing for a rival publication, the Saturday Paper, and the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A.J. Baime, author of "The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 9780547719283) will appear on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" and MSNBC’s "The Cycle" on Friday, June 20. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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