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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Roberta Pereira and Brisa Trinchero love working as Broadway producers and relaxing with a good book. But one night over drinks at Sardi's, the duo wondered why there weren't any good Broadway reads. A few cocktails later, they decided to start a Broadway-themed publishing firm, and Dress Circle... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Our Authors Guide to the Frankfurt Book Fair is now available in Spanish, thanks to Dosdoce, The Spanish Digital Link, and Actualidad Editorial. Download it here. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Poet Alice Oswald has won the third £25,000 Warwick Prize for Writing. It is the first time... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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@Horse_ebooks is the Twitter account that, until today, spewed frequent bouts of eerily poetic nonsense to more than 213,000 followers: @Horse_ebooks was widely believed to be a Twitter bot whose tweets were sent out by a robot that scraped text from obscure parts of the Internet. That is, until... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Bill Bryson calls on publishers to give away ebooks with printed copies in order to tempt readers back to buying physical books. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2013-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Our look at the week's web buzz including hotbutton issues around reader reviews, at questions of print vs. ebooks, and at Amy Tan's new book cover. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News reports are saying American authors will be considered for the prestigious UK literary prize next year, while the Booker Prize organizers say these stories are 'incomplete' but haven't discounted the possibility. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This week's buzz round-up looks at the controversial possible changes in the Man Booker Prize rules, New Zealand's publishing decline, Frankfurt tips and more. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J.K. Rowling will write the screenplay for a film adaptation of the Potter book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' and the movie will center on the adventures of textbook author Newt Scamander. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J.K. Rowling will write the screenplay for a film adaptation of the Potter book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' and the movie will center on the adventures of textbook author Newt Scamander. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J K Rowling will write a new film based on Beasts and Where to Find Them, one of her Comic Relief... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Human Kinetics and the International Monetary Fund have signed a deal to make their content available in China. The agreement is a result of Publishing Technology’s local alliance with CNPIEC, the China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Corporation, and its new CNP eReading platform. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House subcommittee on communications and technology, just made Wednesday's upcoming hearing interesting by publishing a discussion draft of a bill intended to eliminate TV blackouts caused by retransmission consent disputes. The bill, nicknamed... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google+ is a great social media service for people to interact with friends and strangers alike. However, much like fellow social media sites Facebook and Twitter, it also serves as a great tool for bloggers and writers. Yesterday, Google announced that it is bolstering its social media service... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2013-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Ether for Authors, Porter Anderson looks at the Oyster ebook subscription service, at a CONTEC session ahead in Frankfurt, at book marketing, and more. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hybrid author Hugh Howey previews his CONTEC seminar at the Frankfurt Book Fair by offering his hard won views on self vs. traditional publishing. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nearly everyone who's purchased one the 10 million-plus Roombas sold around the world has inevitably asked the same question: whatever happened to Rosie? For all its charms, iRobot's hockey puck-like floor cleaner will never compare to the Jetsons' sass-talking maid. We're living in an age of... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sherman Alexie is encouraging authors to spend a day working in a bookstore handselling their own books, but some authors already feel overstretched. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For 35 years FSG's Roger Straus would swagger into the Frankfurt Book Fair acquiring the works of the most famous authors in the world, leaving an inimitable legacy. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Alexie, author of books including 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,' wrote a letter urging his fellow writers to handsell their books on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. 'The most important thing is that we’ll all be helping Independent bookstores, and God knows they’ve helped us... Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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