Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 142 posts

Re: Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

#121

Post by CamperBob2 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #33
solardev wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a shopper, self checkout is wonderful . It's so much faster and easier than waiting for a single cashier or two. Especially the ones with a scan gun, so you don't have to fight the stupid countertop scanner. As for lost jobs, should we really be propping up unnecessary jobs that really don't do much except poorly substituting a machine? Whether it's checkout or journalism or coding or politics... if a computer can…

>why not let it and free up the human for other things? Cause this has never been the majority outcome in the history of technology The outcome in 90%? of mechanization/automation is not upskilling - it’s displacement. Work gets outsourced to cheaper labor areas or you’re now a baby sitter instead of a tradesperson that is more easily replaced because you have few skills. All the “meritocracy” goes out the window whe…

You're a human being. Your life has a greater purpose than doing a robot's job badly. Find it.

Re: Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

#123

Post by zagrebian »

hnburnsy wrote: post #89

Here is the template to write a news article... State some facts as reported by others (never link to supporting documents only summarize them) Quote from expert or eyewitness on why this is important Quote from other expert why this might not be important (optional as this might make the story not truly news worthy) State that confusing aspects of the story are "unclear" Fill the rest of the story from articles on t…

Don’t forget to end the article with “We’ve reached out to [company involved] for comment but didn’t receive a response in time.”

Re: Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

#124

Post by AndrewKemendo »

anigbrowl wrote: post #110
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing half baked about it I have regular ongoing relationships with the employees at the Giant (Grocery store) near my house and know their names and who they are as people and they know me and my kids and it's great. To the extent where together, myself, Sandi (Night Manager), the Asst Manager and some of the staff all worked together to help get a wonderful man back on his feet that was struggling and begging and…

You are assuming your interactions set the standard for everyone else. A story about how you helped someone is a nice anecdote, but it's not a good basis for extrapolation as you've been doing. I help people too, it does not follow that everyone can or should do things the way I do. The specifically half-baked thing is the idea that by doing something for yourself you're stealing someone else's labor opportunity. I b…

> the idea that by doing something for yourself you're stealing someone else's labor opportunity

This is the mindset of "rugged individualism"

Which has nothing to offer society (in which you live) for a way to live. You are mortally bound to need and care for others. Choosing not to does not absolve you of the responsibility, it's simply lacking the character necessary to provide for your own care via supporting, fixing, building a functional cooperative society.

Re: Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

#125

Post by AndrewKemendo »

polski-g wrote: post #81
JohnFen wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How many humans do you want employed as butter churners? I think that's the wrong question. The better question is how can be ensure that people aren't just out of work and can still be able to afford to live?

They shouldn't. They should go work in a different industry. The butter churners didn't just die, they became professionals doing something else.

Replace [butter churner] with [coal miner] or [auto worker] and in fact that's what happened to thousands of people who were cast to the wind when entire industries shut down.

They lost their homes and health care and died earlier than they had to, leaving nothing but broken families and communities.

Re: Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

#126

Post by JimtheCoder »

solardev wrote: post #39
carlosjobim wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a whole other dynamic when a person interviews another person that AI can't replace. I don't see it as feasible. Every interview is voluntary, you can't force anybody to be interviewed by an AI and most subjects would decline. Those who accepted to be interviewed by an AI would be seen as people basically interviewing themselves. "when it's just regurgitating some press release or new study or product launch.…

I doubt the AI would voluntarily self identify as such, unless we force it to. Some of the interviewees may never know the difference. But yeah agreed, wish papers just republished wire stories or press releases and spent what little staff they still have on original (ideally local) reporting.

"I doubt the AI would voluntarily self identify as such, unless we force it to. Some of the interviewees may never know the difference."

I certainly hope we would force them to identify. I don't have problems talking to an AI, but when there is a reasonable expectation that I should be talking to a human...it should be a human.

Re: Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

#127

Post by rgmerk »

Loquebantur wrote: post #79
thehappypm wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Journalism is a lot more than just turning press releases and such into articles. In fact, making it cheaper to churn those out will free up money for real journalism — investigations, interviews, analysis, opinions.

No, it won't. News media today are nothing more but a vehicle to bring attention to advertisement. The majority of people do not read lengthy articles anyway, only headlines. Investigative journalism is wildly expensive and not cost-effective given said objective. News media are anachronistic anyway. People are stuck in childish and dumbed down variants of "my parents told me so". What is necessary (and severely lack…

That’s not true for the New York Times, which makes more money from subscribers than it does from advertisers.

Re: Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

#128

Post by nils-herzig »

Brendinooo wrote: post #12

> The tool, known internally by the working title Genesis, can take in information — details of current events, for example — and generate news content, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the product. Doesn't this already exist in some form? I remember headlines from a few years ago about how stuff like wire reports about sports games could be generated from a box score.

A lot of these spam / clickbait articles and SEO Blogposts were written (at least partially) by a less advanced version of this for quite some time. They are probably written by openai these days

Re: Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

#129

Post by d13 »

hnburnsy wrote: post #89

Here is the template to write a news article... State some facts as reported by others (never link to supporting documents only summarize them) Quote from expert or eyewitness on why this is important Quote from other expert why this might not be important (optional as this might make the story not truly news worthy) State that confusing aspects of the story are "unclear" Fill the rest of the story from articles on t…

And if it’s more than 500 words, add “on a cold November morning” somewhere.

Re: Google tests A.I. tool that is able to write news articles

#130

Post by hulitu »

hnburnsy wrote: post #89

Here is the template to write a news article... State some facts as reported by others (never link to supporting documents only summarize them) Quote from expert or eyewitness on why this is important Quote from other expert why this might not be important (optional as this might make the story not truly news worthy) State that confusing aspects of the story are "unclear" Fill the rest of the story from articles on t…

* for every number in your article add 000. People _like_ big numbers.

* don't forget the children

* emotions are very important

* strip all declarations out of context. The article is too long anyway.

* don't make exact statements. Be as vague as possible without compromising the spirit of the article.

* last but not least: construct a beautiful story. It might not get read now, (some people have work to do) but it will make the basis for your future Pulizer prize.

Post reply on HN