In an age of offshoring and technological displacement, I've long comforted myself with the thought that — contrary to George Orwell's dystopian vision in 1984 — writers cannot be replaced by machines.
Alas, not so. By early 2016, The Associated Press is expected to debut basic election reporting generated by a software called Wordsmith, which is able to create fairly formulaic articles once the required data is provided. The platform is made by a company called Automated Insights, and AP will use it to provide speedy coverage of things like horse race polls and candidate bios. About a dozen other news outlets are currently testing the program as well.
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