Demand Studios and content mills? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, my fine freelance writing friends. We’re talking writing robots! Forbes is the latest among a group of 30 organizations using Narrative Science software to write computer-generated stories. It’s actually kind of clever—the software uses data to create stories on sports, financial reports, real estate, local community blah blah, polling and elections, ad campaign summaries, sales and operations reports, and market research.
Is the work of writing robots going to make anyone forget Damon Runyon? No. Do I feel threatened? Not particularly. By the time Skynet truly goes feral, I imagine my freelance writing career will have long since passed.
OK, now I’ll confess that my headline is pretty much an excuse to post the Dan Mangan “Robots” video imbedded below. It’s a song I got hooked on during our year in Canada. You’ve been warned.
Cathy Miller says
At least it knocked the Sound of Music soundtrack out of my head. 😉
Dr. Freelance says
What can I say, Cathy? Just trying to help, ha.
Lori says
I lost that nasty “Bye Bye Bye” NSync ear worm. I owe you that much.