Stephen Downes

Noting that the BBC used an AI to writing articles for election coverage, Terry Freedman argues that it does make a difference whether articles are written by a human or by a computer. Part of his argument is based on the (thus far) limited capacity of AI: "these kind of (AI) can at present only create articles based on data." But also, they aren't very good. "These articles are mind-numbingly boring." All true. But what happens when an AI can write as creatively as a McIlvanney? It strikes me that people might give up on writing in just the same way (and for just the same reason) that Lee Se-dol quit playing Go. And that would be a loss.