Researchers create 'malicious' writing AI

A team of researchers who have built an artificially-intelligent writer say they are withholding the technology as it might be used for "malicious" purposes. OpenAI, based in San Francisco, is a research institute backed by Silicon Valley luminaries including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. It shared some new research on using machine learning to create a system capable of producing natural language, but in doing so the team expressed concern the tool could be used to mass-produce convincing fake news. Which, to put it another way, is of course also an admission that what its system puts out there is unreliable, made-up rubbish. Still, when it works well, the results are impressively realistic in tone - which is why I've shared a sample of it below.