Steve Lohr of the New York Times reports a startup outfit in the field of Artificial Intelligence that “takes data, like that from sports statistics, company financial reports and housing starts and sales, and turns it into articles.” One computer scientist observed: “The quality of the narrative produced was quite good.” But an investor in Narrative Science, witnessing the software’s skills in reportage, was more fervent: “It’s as if a human wrote it.”

Going back to introduction of the linotype at the end of the 19th century and word processing in the 20th, automation in the technical production of newspapers, magazines and books has replaced whole work forces in journalism and publishing.  But, other than speculative science fiction, the notion of replacing authors themselves seemed too fanciful to take seriously.

Can’t happen here?  Not only can it, not only will it, but one of the company’s founders, Kris Hammond, predicts “In five years, a computer program will win a Pulitzer Prize — and I’ll be damned if it’s not our technology.”

If after reading In Case You Wondered, a Real Human Wrote This Column you still think it will never happen, drop us a comment. But please identify yourself as human. E-Reads management reserves the right to reject postings submitted by robots.

Richard Curtis