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TL;DR A Chicago startup called Narrative Science makes scripts that turn raw data feeds such as seismological data or website analytics into accessible natural

by Pitarou 13y ago

TL;DR A Chicago startup called Narrative Science makes scripts that turn raw data feeds such as seismological data or website analytics into accessible natural language reports. Some news outlets are already using them to get out earthquake and Little Leagues baseball reports quickly and cheaply. The founder, Kristian Hammond, has big ideas. "Pulitzer Prize by 2017." "90% of news written by bots in 2030." This TL;DR was written by a human. Just saying.

sentenza 13y ago
What I wonder is this: Everybody who enters the information age slowly (and mostly without noticing) adapts to it and develops information processing skills. So why not just present a table and/or a graph? Maybe we're already capable enough to handle it. If the data is already machine-readable, in many instances, what I want to see are a few slices through the database and a few visualizations. What I don't want is a big text blob that must first be piped through my brain to re-extract the information.
pantalaimon 13y ago
- In a recent example, an LA Times writer-bot wrote and posted a snippet about an earthquake three minutes after the event. - The LA Times claims they were first to publish anything on the quake, and outside the USGS, they probably were. - The LA Times example isn’t special because it’s the first algorithm to write a story on a major news site. - Indeed, Kristian Hammond, cofounder and CTO of Narrative Science, thinks some 90% of the news could be written by computers by 2030. - The LA Times earthquake story, written by an algorithm created by one of their staff, included a disclaimer. This TL;DR was written by a bot. http://www.textteaser.com/s/Y4TWuU http://www.textteaser.com/s/Y4TWuU
- Pitarou 13y ago
  And the bot doesn't get the details wrong! I mistakenly wrote "Bill Hammond" instead of "Kristian Hammond" in my TL;DR. (Sorry Kristian.)
  - higherpurpose 13y ago
    But it could still have bias.
    - sosborn 13y ago
      Everything is subject to bias.
- shubb 13y ago
  An opensource bot - https://github.com/MojoJolo/textteaser/ https://github.com/MojoJolo/textteaser/
knowtheory 13y ago
I am incredibly unimpressed with Kris Hammond's hype machine (although i think that what Narrative Science does is cool). But this isn't the first bot that the LA Times has operated either. Folks like Ben Welsh (who works at the LA Times, and did this awesome lightning talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-On8PzEy8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-On8PzEy8 ) and Matt Waite (who won a Pulitzer Prize for Politifact & now teaches at University of Nebraska Lincoln) have also been writing bots to help with the reporting process (and yes in some case actually generate copy) for years. Narrative Science certainly was not the first or only group to do this.
keithxm23 13y ago
This is almost identical to Roald Dahl's 1998 story - "The Great Automatic Grammatizator"
wglb 13y ago
It has some interesting investors: http://www.policymic.com/articles/46597/narrative-science-the-cia-is-investing-in-artificial-intelligence-that-actually-works http://www.policymic.com/articles/46597/narrative-science-th...

by Pitarou 13y ago

sentenza 13y ago

What I wonder is this: Everybody who enters the information age slowly (and mostly without noticing) adapts to it and develops information processing skills. So why not just present a table and/or a graph? Maybe we're already capable enough to handle it. If the data is already machine-readable, in many instances, what I want to see are a few slices through the database and a few visualizations. What I don't want is a big text blob that must first be piped through my brain to re-extract the information.

pantalaimon 13y ago

- In a recent example, an LA Times writer-bot wrote and posted a snippet about an earthquake three minutes after the event. - The LA Times claims they were first to publish anything on the quake, and outside the USGS, they probably were. - The LA Times example isn’t special because it’s the first algorithm to write a story on a major news site. - Indeed, Kristian Hammond, cofounder and CTO of Narrative Science, thinks some 90% of the news could be written by computers by 2030. - The LA Times earthquake story, written by an algorithm created by one of their staff, included a disclaimer. This TL;DR was written by a bot. http://www.textteaser.com/s/Y4TWuU http://www.textteaser.com/s/Y4TWuU

Pitarou 13y ago
And the bot doesn't get the details wrong! I mistakenly wrote "Bill Hammond" instead of "Kristian Hammond" in my TL;DR. (Sorry Kristian.)
- higherpurpose 13y ago
  But it could still have bias.
  - sosborn 13y ago
    Everything is subject to bias.
shubb 13y ago
An opensource bot - https://github.com/MojoJolo/textteaser/ https://github.com/MojoJolo/textteaser/

knowtheory 13y ago

I am incredibly unimpressed with Kris Hammond's hype machine (although i think that what Narrative Science does is cool). But this isn't the first bot that the LA Times has operated either. Folks like Ben Welsh (who works at the LA Times, and did this awesome lightning talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-On8PzEy8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-On8PzEy8 ) and Matt Waite (who won a Pulitzer Prize for Politifact & now teaches at University of Nebraska Lincoln) have also been writing bots to help with the reporting process (and yes in some case actually generate copy) for years. Narrative Science certainly was not the first or only group to do this.

keithxm23 13y ago

This is almost identical to Roald Dahl's 1998 story - "The Great Automatic Grammatizator"

wglb 13y ago

It has some interesting investors: http://www.policymic.com/articles/46597/narrative-science-the-cia-is-investing-in-artificial-intelligence-that-actually-works http://www.policymic.com/articles/46597/narrative-science-th...