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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Two years after its launch, Kobo Writing Life (KWL), ebook retailer Kobo’s self-publishing channel, carries more than 250,000 self-published digital titles by over 30,000 authors who publish regularly through KWL. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NewsCred, a tech-intensive news aggregator, is an up-and-coming player in the media industry thanks to licensing agreements with elite publishers like the Economist and Bloomberg. The company relies on these partnership deals and its own algorithms t ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When a man routinely hailed as one of America’s “greatest living writers” publishes a new novel, one hardly expects it to draw reviews posing questions along the lines of “Can he do it? Can he actually pull it off?” Because when you’re Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize winner, the act of writing a... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2012-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeremy Lin has inspired a lot of rabid fans, magazine features, and six-figure book deal offers. But he's also fueled a new breed of lightning-fast ebook authors. Alan Goldsher, author of "Linsanity: The Improbable Rise of Jeremy Lin," is one of the fastest (and slickest). In the days before... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 22/09/2011 - 15:46 Agents who wish to publish their clients work must offer them a detailed explanation of what they will personally gain from the arrangement and obtain their full and written agreement, the president of the Association of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 12:10 Man Booker-winning author Graham Swift has said there is a danger aspiring writers may be put off from writing if the rates they are paid decrease in the digital age. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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I was balancing a plate of honeydew in the green room of a book festival when I walked by a white man bemoaning the state of the publishing industry. The man wore a suit, and he spoke to a white woman; both of them looked to be in their 40s. As the man speared a […] The post I Don’t Have To... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-27 11:05:00 UTC ]
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The Guild says it met with the agency's leadership on May 18 and was assured of transition plans to support a number of authors who were recently dropped by the agency following the departure of agent Jordan Hamessley. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In her latest short story collection, White Cat, Black Dog, MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellow Kelly Link reinvents seven fairytales into modern, realist short stories about, for example, an aging billionaire choosing a successor, and a house-sitting gig that goes awry. Link is also the author of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-28 08:54:06 UTC ]
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If you love Jane Smiley, this episode is for you. Eve and Julie are joined by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author in an interview that was recorded live for Miami Book Fair 2021. They discuss Jane’s most recent book, Perestroika in Paris, as well as Jane’s writing process, beloved pets, and what... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-23 09:51:41 UTC ]
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On Sunday night, I May Destroy You showrunner Michaela Coel won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. In the context of yet another melanin-deficient awards show that had people tweeting #EmmysSoWhite, it was refreshing (and simultaneously frustrating) that... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-20 16:39:44 UTC ]
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HarperCollins affiliate publisher Rose Sandy reveals the details of its new Author Academy, which will give 90 emerging talents guidance as to how the book industry functions. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-15 22:41:09 UTC ]
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“Humans of New York” author Brandon Stanton shares 16 photos from his globe-spanning new book. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-10-06 13:53:03 UTC ]
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The publishing landscape is rapidly changing—as is the way self-published authors are viewed. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House is a feat—a memoir and historical narrative created amid governmental bureaucracy and resistance from some of her subjects. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2019-09-25 16:27:00 UTC ]
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Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House is a feat—a memoir and historical narrative created amid governmental bureaucracy and resistance from some of her subjects. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2019-09-25 16:27:00 UTC ]
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Renowned for their diversity, the popularity of podcasts has skyrocketed in recent years. This has not passed publishers by with many harnessing the potential of the medium by launching their own shows. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Society of Authors (SoA) has renewed its calls for TV companies to pay and credit historians and authors for their research work after a rise in complaints from members. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a copyright flare-up, California's Internet Archive finds itself on the wrong side of the English-speaking world's two largest author trade organizations. The post Authors Guild and Society of Authors Allege Copyright Infringement by the Internet Archive appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nearly every morning, a pseudo-dystopian scene unfolds just steps away from America’s gates. At the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Tijuana, someone reads aloud from a mysterious, unsanctioned notebook filled with the names of thousands of people from across the globe. Each of them — including the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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