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 ]
News tagged with:
#big thing
#statistical analysis
#web pages
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 16/09/2011 - 08:31 Waterstones proposed higher discount, flat rate terms for publishers, put forward in exchange for scrapping promotion fees, could hit author royalties, according to agents and the Society of Authors. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#put forward
With the Google Book Search Settlement in tatters, its fragile alliance splintering, and the parties now on a pretrial schedule, the Authors Guild last week expanded its infringement claims by suing a consortium of university libraries over a digital library initiative. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#authors guild
#university libraries
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 15/09/2011 - 08:30 The Red Queen author Philippa Gregory is turning her hand to young adult fiction for the first time, after signing a deal with Simon & Schuster. Ingrid Selberg, director of children's publishing at S&S UK, and Jon... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ss children
#philippa gregory
#write ya
#simon schuster
#ingrid selberg
#ss uk
#executive vice-president
#venetia gosling
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 14/09/2011 - 08:55 Authors including Neil Gaiman and Ian Rankin will collaborate with the public in a short story "Tweetathon" organised by the Society of Authors. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ian rankin
#short story
The Authors Guild has sued five universities and a library partnership organization alleging copyright infringement over their use of certain digitized copies of... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#authors guild
#digitized copies
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 06/09/2011 - 15:28 Profile has reported a 3% sales rise to £7.35m for the year to end 31st March 2011, with profits up 69% to £405,000. M.d. Andrew Franklin said the publisher was delighted to announce these "healthy" results on the day that it... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sales rise
#andrew franklin
#serpents tail
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 01/09/2011 - 14:45 Hodder Children's Books has bought two teen titles from journalist and presenter Dawn Porter. Publisher Emily Thomas did the deal directly with Porter for a "sizeable" sum. The books are described as "epic stories of an... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#dawn porter
#hodder children
#teen titles
#deal directly
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 01/09/2011 - 15:08 Amazon.com is offering a new feature enabling readers to ask authors questions directly via their Kindle devices. @author is currently on limited beta release, with a handful of participating authors including thriller writer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#kindle devices
#robert kiyosaki
Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Wed, 31/08/2011 - 15:01 French authors have given a cautious welcome to last weeks agreement for Google to scan out-of-print or unavailable copyrighted books published by the La Martinière group. Although applauding the US giants wish to respect... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 09:21 American crime writer Karin Slaughter has written a digital-only short story exclusive to Amazon, with all the proceeds going to benefit libraries. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 19/08/2011 - 13:52 Authors of Macmillan titles put on hold during the recent Serious Fraud Office investigation say they have been given a "glimmer of hope" for the future, with "sensible" discussions now beginning with the publisher after... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 12:00 Jonathan Cape has acquired a memoir about the British painter Lucian Freud, who died last month, written by his friend, Evening Standard editor Geordie Greig. Publishing director Dan Franklin acquired UK and Commonwealth... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ed victor
Amazon moved aggressively to fulfill its new ambition to publish books as well as sell them, announcing that it had signed Timothy Ferriss, the popular self-help guru. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon set
#publish books
Booker Prize winning author Graham Swift believes digital publishing could threaten the livelihood of authors in the future because they are being paid too little. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 15/08/2011 - 08:49 Headline has settled a high court action brought by a former author for an undisclosed sum. Author Amanda Smith had brought the action after Headline abandoned publication of her misery memoir Toxic. The court ruled the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#court ruled
Hunched over my keyboard, I'm haunted by anecdotes of faster writers. Christopher Hitchens composing a Slate column in 20 minutesafter a chemo session, after a "full" dinner party, late on a Sunday night. The infamously productive Trollope, who used customized paper! "He had a note pad that had... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#dinner party
#sunday night
#paris review
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 09/08/2011 - 08:57 Erotic fiction publisher Xcite Books has appointed Elizabeth Coldwell to the role of editor. Coldwell is a former editor of Forum magazine and is also one of Xcite's bestselling authors. Managing director Hazel Cushion... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bestselling authors
#broad spectrum
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 05/08/2011 - 08:30 Pan Macmillan's Macmillan New Writing scheme will continue despite the head of the imprint leaving the company. Will Atkins, who worked at Pan Macmillan for five years and was its editorial director for fiction, has left... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#pan macmillan
#literary fiction
#founding editor
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 05/08/2011 - 11:01 Canongate has bought a childrens book written by the lead singer of American indie rock band The Decemberists. Senior editor Francis Bickmore bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excl Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#lead singer
#angharad kowal
#writers house
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 03/08/2011 - 09:10 Sceptre has acquired the latest novel by Cold Mountain author Charles Frazier, to be published on 27th September 2011. Publishing director Carolyn Mays bought British Commonwealth, excluding Canada, rights in the title,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#karolina sutton
#curtis brown
#amanda urban