What would our computers tell us if we gave them a voice? We'll soon find out thanks to Natural Language Generation which gives computers a written opinion on virtually anything. For now, we must program their responses, but soon they'll form their own opinions and develop a creative voice. This may seem a long way off, so let's consider their progression as a writer in comparison to a human. A child progresses as a writer by starting with basic creative writing exercises: What did you do over summer break?

It might not happen anytime soon, but then again, it might. In Japan, a short novel co-written by an artificial intelligence program (its co-author is human) made it past the first stage of a literary contest, the Japan News reports. The Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award is named after Hoshi Shinichi, a Japanese science fiction author whose books include "The Whimsical Robot" and "Greetings from Outer Space." Judges for the prize weren't told which novels were written by humans and which were penned by human-computer teams. The award is unique in that it accepts entries from "applicants who are not human beings (AI programs and others)."