Artificial intelligence is remixing journalism into a “soup” of language

Asensational scoopAIAPAIAP was tweeted last month by America’s National Public Radio: Elon Musk’s “massive space sex rocket” had exploded on launch. Alas, it turned out to be an automated mistranscription of SpaceX, the billionaire’s rocketry firm. The error may be a taste of what is to come as artificial intelligence () plays a bigger role in newsrooms.Machines have been helping deliver the news for years: the Associated Press () began publishing automated company earnings reports in 2014. The uses machine learning to decide how many free articles to show readers before they hit a paywall. Bayerischer Rundfunk, a German public broadcaster, moderates online comments with help. now also deploys it to create video “shot lists”, describing who and what is in each clip.