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Google Invests in Robot Reporters

People fear that robots will replace them in the workforce, but reporters did not have to deal with this worry. Machines lack the capability to write cohesive news pieces, except that robots are getting smarter. Google might become the bane of news reporters, because of Business Insider shares that, “Google Is Giving The Press Association £622,000 To Create An Army Of Robot Reporters.” Google granted the Press Association £622,000 ($810,000) to develop robots the can write 30,000 stories per day for news outlets.

The funds come from Google’s Digital News Initiative will dole out the $810,000 over three years to “stimulate and support innovation in digital journalism across Europe’s news industry.” The Press Association dubbed the project “Reporters and Data and Robots” (RADAR) that will also run in tandem with the news startup Urbs Media. The robots will produce stories by:

The robot reporters will draw on open data sets on the internet and use natural Language Generation (NLG) software to produce their copy, PA said. The data sets — to be identified and recorded by a new team of five human journalists — will come from government departments, local authorities, NHS Trusts and more, PA said, adding that they will provide detailed story templates across a range of topics including crime, health, and employment.

The head of the Press Association says that RADAR will ease pressures on news outlets in a cost-effective way while providing local stories. While this might work, the naysayers are stating that human reports are still needed to cover local news, because it requires investigation and personal relationships. All we can say is that both arguments are correct.

Whitney Grace, July 27, 2017

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com

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