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SALT LAKE CITY -- The odds that this story was written by an autonomous android are 1:600.
There's an introductory statement that you would expect from a robot, right? Then again, 84 percent of statistics are made up on the spot. You be the judge.
Narrative Science, a Chicago-based joint research group originating from Northwestern University Schools of Engineering and Journalism, has created an artificial intelligence that is capable of automatically producing reports, articles and summaries from structured data sources.
In layman's terms, Narrative Science has made a journalist-bot, capable of turning numbers and statistical data into a compelling narrative.
The group already boasts 30 clients, including widely- recognized economics and finance report Forbes, which are using the tech to produce online articles that will create predictions based around corporations upcoming earnings statements.
Writing about economics plays to the strengths of the automation software, which uses data and number crunching in a bulk of its efforts to produce an article that contains both credibility and readability.
"With amazing speed and quality, narratives are created in multiple formats, including long-form articles, headlines, Tweets and industry reports," reads a summary on the Narrative Science website. "Multiple versions of the same story can be created to customize the content for each audience and narratives can be fully tailored to fit a customer's voice, style and tone."
With amazing speed and quality, narratives are created in multiple formats, including long-form articles, headlines, Tweets and industry reports,
–Narrative Science
What this means is Narrative Science's journalist-bot is capable of producing two different versions of the exact same story, depending on who is reading it. It's no secret that your browsing history and data usage are being monitored and tracked in order to deliver a more personalized experience catered to what appear to be your interests. The software reads that data and implements it into the way it writes its story, tailoring information to whatever it thinks you will find most pertinent.
While it may seem like this technology could destroy the careers of many journalists -- cough -- the opposite could just as well be true. The Narrative Science creation analyzes data and provides concrete statistical information, but is not capable of providing an analysis like that of a human correspondent. Unlike a piece of software, a live person can bring original thoughts and ideas to the table, and "read between the lines" of pieces of information. The introduction of this technology could encourage journalists to take a more personal approach to stories, instead of merely presenting the data. The human reporter remains safe.
For now.
