Think a robot can write this? Pah…China's state news agency begins publishing work of 'robotic journalist'
Hacks worry as state news agency begins publishing work of 'robotic journalist'
A "robotic journalist" has officially started work at state news agency Xinhua, in a move reporters fear will inspire other media to follow suit.
(Little Xinhua Who Writes Fast) has been writing practice sport and business reports in both English and Chinese over the past few months and its penmanship is now deemed good enough to publish.
Xinhua applauded the performance of in the trials and said that it had been put on the official staff list as of today.
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" did a really good job in reporting Chinese Football Association Super League," said Zhou Jie, director of Xinhua's sport division. "It can write in Chinese and English and complete the reports automatically, like announcing results and rankings in just a few minutes."
The development makes Xinhua the second medium on the mainland to have launched such a project within the past two months.
In September, the mainland's social media and gaming giant Tencent published a business article on inflation, complete with analysts' comments, crafted in a minute by a computer programme.
Some critics referred to the article as "word perfect" - fuelling fears among local journalists that their days were numbered.
I bet almost every state-run or government-supported newspaper or news website will follow Xinhua's move
But the move by Xinhua has raised even bigger concerns, given that it is the country's most influential agency.
"I bet almost every state-run or government-supported newspaper or news website will follow Xinhua's move," Li Na, a Guangzhou-based reporter said. "But it is absolutely bad news to reporters."
Xinhua said its tech team had spent about half a year developing the computer programme.
