Well, in this high-tech age there now is a news writer requiring no days off, no vacation, no health plan, no retirement plan, no desk, no pay raises, no coffee breaks and no lunch period turning what its producer claims are “facts and figures into compelling stories in real time,” finds Grumpy Editor.
And the writing tasks are not performed in India, where some publishers have gone for editorial assistance in recent months.
Gathering computer-generated writing steam is Chicago-based Narrative Science Inc. which describes itself as transforming data into high-quality editorial content with a technology application that “generates news stories, industry reports, headlines and more --- at scale and without human authoring or editing.”
Sounds spooky.
But it’s growing.
The company, launched early last year with technology developed by Northwestern University electrical engineering and computer science professors, adds, “Our technology cost-effectively turns facts and figures into compelling stories in real time.”
The company reportedly lists 20 clients going the robot-writing route.
The New York Times yesterday reveals trade publisher Hanley Wood and sports site The Big Ten Network utilize Narrative Science to compose computer-generated stories.
Among material that can be robot written: long and short-form articles, headlines, sports stories, business reports, summaries and real estate analyses.
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