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Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

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Re: Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

#111

Post by mjevans »

elihu wrote: post #92
reallydattrue wrote: post #14

Very Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Ut5GqQ1f4 Google will one day be the arbitrators of news. If it doesn't fit in their world view, whether it's true or not. Will be removed from the results. I think now is the time to setup a different model and remove their monopoly. Internet freedoms are at stake here. Do no evil? Yeah right.

Google doesn't have any good options here. They can either ignore the problem of fake news, or they can become the arbiters of what is or is not fake news. If the latter, the boundary between filtering out misinformation and actively manipulating public opinion is rather fuzzy. As a news consuming public, our best option seems to be to not use Google as our primary news filter. Long term, we probably need an entirely…

Imagine if various organizations you cared about had a feed (RSS or something) of links to stories and/or important search terms.

Your reader polls those feeds and uses some weighted algorithm to produce a set of custom news, possibly by consulting a public index like Google (or even a news outlet directly, redirect in to it with the search terms of choice).

It's still an echo chamber, but if you've got fake news pushing fiends on the list of sources you trust you've already got problems.

Re: Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

#112

Post by nickdavidhaynes »

Borealid wrote: post #110
nickdavidhaynes wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for Automated Insights, a company that makes a SaaS platform very similar to what's in the article. Here's an example "in the wild" of the content we produce - http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/business/article158774809... Many of your criticisms are totally valid. Lots of the phrasing is awkward - even the lede is really bad ("Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) has been having a set of eventful trading activity"...wat). And…

I don't understand what value the prose provides over spending the same amount of effort producing clear, easy to read infographics. Instead of producing awkward and difficult-to-read English sentences, why not use the same content generator to produce completely accurate and easier to read dynamic data visualizations?

If you do automated content well, it's not awkward and difficult to read ;)

As far as visuals vs prose, I see it as "both-and" rather than "either-or". And in addition to our journalism and personalization work, we also integrate with interactive visualization tools like Tableau.

Re: Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

#113

Post by cwp »

Ugh. The last thing the world needs is more formulaic news stories. We need to move past the idea that the web is a virtual newspaper.

News sites don't even use hyperlinks effectively, let alone audio/video/interaction. We should use AI to replace newspapers, not reporters.

Re: Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

#114

Post by nogbit »

nickdavidhaynes wrote: post #87
11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #2

I ran across this article while researching a stock and as I read, I kept thinking, "This was not written by a person. This was written by software." [0] I checked the attribution, and there is a person's name on it. Sure, any hack can write and publish and this is probably just another example. But the odd style doesn't even strike me as 'writing the way I think' or writing and publishing quickly without editing. Fo…

I work for Automated Insights, a company that makes a SaaS platform very similar to what's in the article. Here's an example "in the wild" of the content we produce - http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/business/article158774809... Many of your criticisms are totally valid. Lots of the phrasing is awkward - even the lede is really bad ("Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) has been having a set of eventful trading activity"...wat). And…

Increased the trading volume? Seriously, you call that value? What are you smoking, that's called pump and dump and is illegal my friend, and if it isn't actually being dumped is downright sleazy car salesman to me. Was that recent study also automated.

Re: Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

#115

Post by andy_ppp »

I think the disgust factor will go away in a few years (maybe less) when most content is written by machines with slanting that the models say you will enjoy. Or that will cause you to spend money. Or click ads.

You think you won't succumb to their influence now, but it'll happen and there will even be "journalists" who are machines that you like. The filter bubble will completely adapt to your every need to make you feel fantastic about reading their copy, humans won't be able to compete.

Re: Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

#116

Post by HlessClaudesman »

briholt wrote: post #104
HlessClaudesman wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. There has always been a definable difference between fact and fiction. Both have a place on the net but where fiction masquerades as fact with the intent to decieve, we have a duty to use all the tools at our disposal to destroy that ruse and choose more factual sources on which to base our decisions. I for one welcome our new news overlords.

This is a naive viewpoint I see pop up a lot. People pushing "fiction" think it's a "fact" and there's no full-proof way to convince them otherwise or even perfectly distinguish the two. People will tell you that it's a fact that vaccines cause autism or Iraq has WMDs or America is a white supremacist country. In reality, "facts" are linguistic simplifications of reality that inherently omit information and the disti…

To insist that all points of view are valid, and that truth is somehow unknowable is a viewpoint very common in academia.

Using the scientific method, meta-studies and suchlike our species has built an enormous corpus of knowledge, I'm happy to let that evolving concensus be the basis of our decisions.

For example the fact that vaccines do a more good than harm by an order of magnitude is no longer up for debate. There is a lunatic fringe who disagree, their unfounded fiction should not be shown to curious first time parents on google.

To insist that everyone can pick and choose reality and that we should all be wary of "facts" is to cause real harm.

Re: Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

#117

Post by babyrainbow »

andy_ppp wrote: post #115

I think the disgust factor will go away in a few years (maybe less) when most content is written by machines with slanting that the models say you will enjoy. Or that will cause you to spend money. Or click ads. You think you won't succumb to their influence now, but it'll happen and there will even be "journalists" who are machines that you like. The filter bubble will completely adapt to your every need to make you…

I am not sure. Do you read news for entertainment, or do you read it for truth?

Re: Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

#119

Post by andy_ppp »

babyrainbow wrote: post #117
andy_ppp wrote: post #115

I think the disgust factor will go away in a few years (maybe less) when most content is written by machines with slanting that the models say you will enjoy. Or that will cause you to spend money. Or click ads. You think you won't succumb to their influence now, but it'll happen and there will even be "journalists" who are machines that you like. The filter bubble will completely adapt to your every need to make you…

I am not sure. Do you read news for entertainment, or do you read it for truth?

The algorithm will adapt to your every need.

Re: Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories

#120

Post by Dylan16807 »

mc32 wrote: post #31
nkozyra wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presentation of facts alone doesn't really preclude bias, though. Certainly all journalists carry bias - and styleguides and journalistic standards are intended to mitigate this - but any software intended to encapsulate some facts into some allotted space will also carry bias. Source/quote selection and omission will always lend some bias and news by nature has a finite space. Print news in particular imposes bias t…

Understood. Yet, this would still be an improvement over newsstories which try to read insight into something where what they do's more or less projection and speculation without saying so much. "Amazon buys WF". vs "Jeff Bezos buys WF so you never have to talk to a cashier" Or, "Physician runs over pedestrian" vs. "Physician accused of insurance fraud runs over pedestrian"

I'm confused. Your first example seems to be adding pointless false commentary, while the second is adding real information about the person.
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