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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Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, has made the prediction that self-published books will account for 50% of ebook sales by 2020. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Melissa Wardy, author of "Redefining Girly: How Parents Can Fight the Stereotyping and Sexualizing of Girlhood, from Birth to Tween" (Chicago Review Press, 9781613745526) will appear on NBC's "Today Show" on Friday, March 14. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sally Green and Charlie Higson have joined the line-up for the UK's first YA literature... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Paul Brinkley, author of "War Front to Store Front: Americans Rebuilding Trust and Hope in Nations Under Fire" (Turner, 9781118239223), will appear on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Thursday, March 13. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The upcoming Digiday Content Marketing Awards include a category for best publishing native advertising program. We asked presenters from our upcoming Digiday Publishing Summit to offer their insights on what makes effective native ads.The post Rising above the listicle: What makes a good native... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Still captivated by the distinctive small Virginia town where he grew up, Billy Coffey returns to its proxy in his latest novel, which explores what happens when 20 years’ worth of guilt about a young man’s untimely death overtakes three high school classmates. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards teams up with his artist daughter to write a picture book inspired by his own granddad teaching him to play the guitar. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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During a panel at Austin's South by Southwest conference, Kaling said she is writing another book. Kaling's show 'The Mindy Project' was recently renewed for a third season. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jenni Pulos, author of "Grin and Bear It: How to be Happy No Matter What Reality Throws Your Way" (St. Martin's, 9781250028198), will appear on the "Today Show" on Monday, March 10. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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SXSW Interactive (March 7-11), the annual tech festival, opens today in Austin, Tex. and expect to see a wide range of publishers and publishing-related events. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pat Williams, author of "The Mission is Remission: Hope For Battling Cancer" (HCI, 9780757317828), will appear on "CBS This Morning" on Friday, March 7. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jaron Lanier, author of "Who Own the Future" (Simon & Schuster, 9781451654974), will appear on the "Colbert Report" on Tuesday, March 4. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Writing for The Guardian, Robert McCrum observes that “the credit crunch and the internet are making writing as a career harder than it has been for a generation.” Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A decade after beginning his successful Cherub series, best-selling children's author, Robert Muchamore, publishes his new book, Rock War. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2014-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Porter Anderson reports on the inaugural London Author Fair conference in Covent Garden and looking at the role agents might play for self-publishers. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW Comics World's bi-weekly spotlight on crowdfunded comics and comics-related projects. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher of Financial Times operating profits grow to £55m in 2013 as owner Pearson announces overall slump of 21%Pearson has reported a 21% slump in its overall operating profit for 2013, as its core US education business continues to be hit by the "worst trading conditions" seen in decades.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In this speech, German author Christoph Hein examines the importance of literature and honors Metropolitan Books' publisher Sara Bershtel for her work in bringing German literature to the USA. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The doom and gloom of the past few years appears to be over, with more publishing houses throwing open their doors to new writersBrigid Delaney Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Like it or not, viral publisher Upworthy has had a huge influence on the world of online publishing. Spotting that growth, a huge range of copycat sites have emerged attempting to mimic its strategy to build audiences of their own.The post The rise of the Upworthy-clone economy appeared first on... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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