|19 January 2017|
China
It took a matter of a second for a robot journalist working on a Chinese daily today to write up an article 300 characters in length.
Published in the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily, the author – named Xia Nan – is able to produce short pieces as well as longer stories.
Professor Wan Xiaojun, of Peking University, is head of the team advancing and developing the robots.
He told China Daily: “When compared with the staff reporters, Xiao Nan has a stronger data analysis capacity and is quicker at writing stories. But it does not mean intelligent robots will soon be able to completely replace reporters.”
Wan Xiaojun said they are unable to carry out certain core journalistic tasks, like conducting face-to-face interviews or being capable of asking natural follow-up questions.
“But robots will be able to act as a supplement, helping newspapers and related media, as well as editors and reporters,” he added.
