Living in the age of computers,
talk of non-humans doing a human’s job has become common. In the article “Can
an Algorithm Write a Better News Story Than a Human Reporter?”, Steven Levy, a
senior writer at Wired Magazine, discusses this issue, specifically focusing on
journalism. A company called Narrative Science, being one of these major
contributors to computer-generated articles, was the main inspiration for this
piece. Levy explains that the company uses a set of algorithms to analyze data
on the internet of a certain event, retrieve what is important, and compose an
article that is surprisingly accurate and not too distinguishable from that of
a human. While Narrative Science CTO and cofounder Kristain Hammond assures the
public that it is not designed to take over the industry and put people out of
work, Levy expresses his partial disbelief in this, mainly through the repeated
use of the phrase, “At least not yet.”
This was one of the strategies that
really helped create a balance between unbiased reporting and the author’s
opinion, since the use of this phrase did not interfere with the actual
information. Moreover, his ability to state his feelings toward the subject can
be accredited to the context and audience. As this was published in Wired magazine,
which mainly focuses on how new technologies affect the world, the topic of
this article is right at home. Given the goal of Wired, its audience, and
therefore Levy’s audience is probably made up of people interested in design
and creation, and would most likely be more agreeable to Levy’s perspective.
Because Levy managed to appeal to
his audience’s ideals, he was able to effectively inform them of this issue in
order to create an interest in this potential problem. Therefore, his purpose
of warning the journalism industry and consumers about robot reporters was
achieved.
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