Human Reporter Beats Machine With Creativity - for Now

A reporter from NPR took on a challenge to see if he could beat a computer program at reporting on the same story.

WordSmith, a software program made by Automated Insights, is used by news wire companies such as The Associated Press and others for reporting financial and sports news.

NPR decided to see if its White House correspondent, Scott Horsley, who also used to be a business reporter, could beat the machine.

The topic they were given was the earnings report from the restaurant chain Denny's. They both needed to write a short story for a radio report.

WordSmith was significantly faster in the matchup, taking only two minutes versus the more than seven minutes it took Horsley. But the NPR reporter clearly won in the style category, as he was able to work in Denny's breakfast-food metaphors.

However, that could change, as style is something that WordSmith can be programmed to mimic.

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