{3:25 minutes to read} According to the late artificial intelligence pioneer Alan Turing, a computer is “intelligent” if the program can convince a user that he/she is chatting with another real person. Eugene, a computer program designed to impersonate a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy, was the first to pass this Turing Test in 2014 — fooling 33% of the judges into thinking they were chatting with a live human being! Here is a snippet from just one of Eugene’s conversations:
Judge: My favourite music is contemporary jazz, what do you prefer?
Eugene: To be short I’ll only say that I HATE Britnie [sic] Spears. All other music is OK compared to her.
Judge: Do you like to play any musical instruments?
Eugene: I’m tone deaf, but my guinea pig likes to squeal Beethoven’s Ode to Joy every morning. I suspect our neighbors want to cut his throat … Could you tell me about your job, by the way?
So does Eugene’s ascension mean computers will soon be capable of writing high-quality content?
I was recently introduced to Yseop (pronounced “Easy Op”), a French company that claims on its homepage to offer “Easy-to-use artificial intelligence software that writes like a human being.” The software does an impressive job turning formidable amounts of data into a narrative report, resulting in something similar to what you might find in the financial explanation section of a corporate SEC filing. It is some great reading — if you are having trouble falling asleep. Yseop could, however, serve as a solid foundation to which an editor can add a human touch. It also demonstrates tremendous progress in computer-generated writing, but it’s not yet up to snuff for compelling marketing content.
If you are looking for tools that can help you generate quality marketing content NOW, don’t despair. There are a number of emerging products from innovative companies to help you do just that.
Open Topic, founded by serial entrepreneur Christian Jorg, is taking advantage of the billions of dollars invested by IBM in its Watson artificial intelligence program to help marketers both generate and distribute relevant marketing content.
Mike Moran, a former Distinguished Engineer at IBM and a text analytics expert, is now a senior strategist at Solo Segment. His company’s products use digital markers to predict each website visitor’s interests to automatically serve up the most relevant content and keep them engaged.
At Oz Content, CEO Matthew Lovett and his team have developed a tool that uses sophisticated content analytics to help editors identify current topics that are most likely to capture the attention of their target audiences.
If you believe in the power of compelling content, then it may be time to see how these and similar technologies can enhance your content strategy and boost production. Contact us if you want to explore how to do just that.
Michael Bendit
Managing Director
Software Development Resources Inc.
888-447-1591
1825 Madison Avenue, Suite 9E
New York, NY 10035
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