Robots in Newsroom - Chinese robot reporter 'Xiao Nan' completes long article in just a second!

Image for representational purpose only

New Delhi: This is not a science fiction, but real. A robot journalist named 'Xiao Nan' made its debut in publishing by releasing a long article in a chinese daily newspaper.

Scientists say the 300-character story focusing on the Spring Festival travel rush was written in just a second.

Xiao's stoy was published in the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily on Wednesday.

According to Wan Xiaojun, a professor at Peking University who leads the team studying and developing such robots, Xiao is able to write both short stories and longer reports.

"When compared with the staff reporters, Xiao Nan has a stronger data analysis capacity and is quicker at writing stories," he said.

"But it does not mean intelligent robots will soon be able to completely replace reporters," Xiaojun was quoted as saying by 'China Daily'.

At present, robots are unable to conduct face-to-face interviews, cannot respond intuitively with follow-up questions and do not have the ability to select the news angle from an interview or conversation, Xiaojun said.

"But robots will be able to act as a supplement, helping newspapers and related media, as well as editors and reporters," he said. 

(With PTI inputs)