According to Oxford university economists Dr. Carl Frey and Dr. Michael Osborne, 40 percent of all jobs are at risk of being lost to computers in the next two decades. In fact, we have already begun seeing the impact of machines taking over everyday human tasks. Uber, for example, is now considering adopting driverless cars in hopes of reducing human error.
While it's been proven that driverless cars can indeed function without a person behind the wheel, another question comes to mind: What other human tasks are capable of being replaced by technology?
The Rise of "Robot Journalists"
Googling the phrase, "This story was generated by Automated Insights" provides an overview of how automation is actually being applied to the world of writing. The Associated Press, in particular, has been using "robot journalists" to autogenerate data-heavy articles on topics such as quarterly earnings and sports.
The good new is that many of these autogenerated stories are fairly basic. For instance, if you compare a few of these articles, you will start to notice similarities, along with a lack of creativity and originality. The same language and sentence structure is used throughout each of these articles as well.
The screenshots below were taken from two recent stories that were autogenerated (I found these by Googling the phrase mentioned above). At first glance, the similarities in the writing style of these pieces are obvious.
Both write-ups begin by mentioning the company name and net income/profit reported. The second sentences mention the company's net income. Finally, the third sentences state if the results met or exceeded Wall Street's expectations. If you read the articles entirely, you will continue to notice other parallels that seem mechanic and unoriginal.
While the examples mentioned above make it clear that machines are not capable of producing content on the same level as humans, this concept is still managing to catch on. It's been noted that 3,000 companies are currently using robot writers to generate quarterly reports.
This leads me to my next question: Do we care more about getting the job done, or about creating quality, thought-provoking content?
Timing Is Everything
If it comes down to task completion in a timely manner, I'd say that autogenerated content might be the way to go. This solution could prove to work well in terms of generating basic reports that require a fast turn around rate.
When it comes to thought-leadership pieces and in-depth articles, however, autogenerated content will fall short. People want to be entertained when they read online content. Articles that go viral are always compelling, creative and, most importantly, original.
All things considered, I've come to the conclusion that machines are not - and never will be - capable of creating content on the same level as humans. Yes, digital solutions can help, but only to a certain extent. Great writers, bloggers and journalists still reign supreme. In this case, humans do indeed beat the bots. I'm just hoping people will still recognize the value of quality writers over digital solutions.