Computers used to write news stories at Thompson Financial, Reuters; human reporters begin stockpiling AP style books for impending Skynet battle

I’m not sure who predicted it first… Matt Thompson and Robin Sloan had EPIC 2014… I’ve heard Adrian Holovaty speak about it multiple times… and I’d bet that some science fiction writer probably came up with it before any of those dudes (or I) were born.

But … computers are officially writing news now:

Thomson Financial, the business information group, has been using computers to generate some stories since March and is so pleased with the results that it plans to expand the practice.

The computers work so fast that an earnings story can be released within 0.3 seconds of the company making results public.

Well, it is basic business reporting… But this is just the beginning. I could see this system being easily replicated with daily sports and probably quick crime stories/blotter reports. Obituaries. Anything numerically quantifiable or relatively generic, I suppose. Feature writers, enjoy your job security! … But not for long:

Mr Burkley said the computer-generated stories had not made any mistakes. But he said they were very standardised. “We might try and write a few more adjectives into the program,” he said.

Thomson started writing computer programs for different types of stories, at a cost of $150,000-$200,000 (£79,623-£106,190) per project, to try to catch up with rivals such as Reuters and Bloomberg.

That is really quite remarkable.

And evidently, they’re not the only ones doing it…

Reuters said it automatically generated some stories, while Bloomberg said it did not.