Researchers at the University of Washington plan to release their AI algorithm – GROVER -- that they say can generate extremely convincing, text-based fake news. The system is also able to write in the style of highly respected publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post and Wired. Researchers say their motivation for releasing the algorithm is to alert the public that such technology can be easily created and deployed. Data journalists formulate the appropriate story templates, and human editors review each story, according to Jason Hwang, head of partnerships, Hoodline. Essentially, they want AI-generated writing to be more human.

Artificial intelligence is one of the Seattle area's fastest-growing tech frontiers, so it only makes sense for the field to get its own category at the GeekWire Awards. Recognizing innovations in AI and its allied technologies, ranging from computer vision to machine learning and natural language processing, has always been a part of the big part of the awards, of course. In fact, some of 2019's contenders for the top AI prize have shown up as finalists in previous years. The split shines a tighter spotlight on two areas of technology where the Pacific Northwest stands out. The five finalists in this new category -- Highspot, Mighty AI, Olis Robotics, Textio and Xnor -- have already made names for themselves.

That's the bot talking, offering a breezy response to a mildly apologetic email: Your coworker wants to reschedule a meeting? And they've proposed a new time? If you've opted in to Gmail's Smart Replies, these exchanges should look familiar. But us humans are proving eager to make the trade: More than 10 percent of all replies on Gmail now start with a suggested Smart Reply. The apps we rely on to stay productive at the office are being infused with ever larger helpings of artificial intelligence.

If you've been following the latest hiring trends, you may have noticed that many recruiters are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) tools to tackle discrimination in hiring―and the expectations for success are high. However, HR technology analysts and even executives at companies offering AI solutions caution that a totally bias-free hiring process may be difficult to achieve. Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, found out the hard way. In 2015, the company discovered that a recruiting system it was building with machine-learning algorithms had begun to downgrade certain resumes that included words such as "women's club." By contrast, the system favored male candidates to whom such verbs such as "executed" and "captured" were attributed.

The good news: Declining cloud compute and hosting costs and open-sourced machine learning algorithms like TensorFlow mean it has never been cheaper and easier to build intelligent software. The bad news: It has never been cheaper and easier to build intelligent software, so this is no longer a competitive differentiator; it's table stakes. So, as we enter the "Great Commoditization" era of software, how can a CEO de-commoditize and build a long-term competitive moat around the business? I believe data will be the gold that separates the winners from the also-rans in this next generation of machine-learning-driven software. But all data sets are not created equal.

And the way we use them in job adverts can dictate whether or not people bother to apply. This is a big problem if you're a business trying to recruit more women and ethnic minorities into your workforce. So can tech help remove these unconscious biases? A job description that uses the phrase "We're looking for someone to manage a team" may seem innocuous enough. But research has shown that the word "manage" encourages more men than women to apply for the role.

It is common knowledge that machines are better than humans at certain tasks. Need someone to carry out repetitive work on an assembly line? Modern robots, computers and artificially intelligent machines are more than up to the task. Writing, however, is one role that has so far withstood the onslaught of AI. Luckily for some of us, where creativity is required, humans, for the time being at least, still maintain an advantage over machines.

Last year, the Seattle startup, which initially released its writing-analysis tools in 2015, grew its client base--including Nvidia, CVS, and Evernote--by more than 200%. "We're at the point where there are enough customers using Textio that they can prove out the results," says CEO Kieran Snyder. Johnson & Johnson, for example, reported an additional 90,000 female applicants (a 9% increase) in its pipeline last year after using Textio to refine its job postings. Nvidia now fills jobs twice as quickly, and Evernote's apply-through rate on Glassdoor's online job boards tripled. With a recent $20 million funding round, Snyder plans to apply Textio to recruiting emails, which take up gobs of hiring managers' time and often go unanswered.

On top of the technology, Talenya hires and trains folks with experience in a particular industry to use the firm's tools and act as part-time recruiters to help screen talent to fill specific roles for Talenya's clients, which include companies like robotics firm Universal Robots, ad-tech player DoubeVerify and gift registration service, MyRegistry.com. "Ultimately, what we're trying to do is deliver three to five amazing candidates that are interested, qualified and evaluated within two weeks," says Cosentino. A firm addressing the issue of bias in the job markets is Textio, which uses language to boost the effectiveness of job posts. The company's software examines language for possible biases that may exist under the radar that could alienate certain job candidates, Chamberlain explained, identifying "overly feminine or overly masculine terms, or terms that have been associated with having trouble recruiting diverse candidates based on their past experience and their training data." Textio's programs also highlight phrases found to be attractive to job seekers, and suggests alternatives to problematic phrases to improve communication.

Sony showed off its AI-enabled Aibo robotic dogs on Nov. 1, 2017. There's been so much hype in recent months around opportunities in artificial intelligence that it's starting to feel a bit like a second gold rush. Just like in 1849, in 2017 there are a lot of people who want to get in on the AI action. And like the prospectors who came before them, they'll be forced to sift through a lot of gravel to find gold. You might be forgiven for dismissing the current rush to build companies around AI as another tech fad.