What readers think about computer-generated texts

An experimental study carried out by LMU media researchers has found that readers rate texts generated by algorithms more credible than texts written by real journalists. Readers like to read texts generated by computers, especially when they are unaware that what they are reading was assembled on the basis of an algorithm. This, at any rate, is the conclusion suggested by the results of an experiment recently conducted by LMU media researchers. In the study, 986 subjects were asked to read and evaluate online news stories. Articles which the participants believed to have been written by journalists were consistently given higher marks for readability, credibility and journalistic expertise than those that were flagged as computer-generated - even in cases where the real "author" was in fact a computer. Several media outlets already regularly publish texts put together by computer programs. Perhaps the best known of those that have adopted the practice - sometimes dubbed 'robot journalism' - is the well-known news agency Associated Press.