Machine Learning Generates Clickbait Headlines That Will Shock You! (thestack.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Norwegian developer and blogger Lars Eidnes has designed a clickbait generator using a neural network, which is able to create sensationalist headlines that play on human readers' curiosity. Eidnes trained his neural network by scanning around two million clickbait titles from online media sites such as Buzzfeed, Jezebel and Upworthy. When asked to form a sentence, the system can now output a single word and continues the prediction process to find related words, in a pattern known as Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs).

Comments

Annoy is more likely.

[sims 2]

Annoy is more likely.

Re:Annoy is more likely.

[arglebargle_xiv]

What I want is a WWN clickbait generator: Woman gives birth to two-headed fish, WWII bomber found on moon, Cat owns 23 old ladies, Reporter eaten alive by rabid hamster, Bat child found in cave, yeah, now that's clickbait.

I have mod points...

[fragMasterFlash]

How do I downvote this headline?

Re:I have mod points...

[telchine]

I know one cool trick to do this; It'll shock you how easy it is!

Re:I have mod points...

[AK Marc]

Headlines destroyed by one simple Machine Learning trick.

Re:I have mod points...

[wardrich86]

Humans HATE it!

Re:I have mod points...

[AK Marc]

Machines want this video banned!

Re:I have mod points...

[Darinbob]

Ten Tips To Survive The Coming Headline Apocalypse!

Took the bait.

[AndyKron]

Ya, I clicked on it.

Detect clickbait headlines with this one weird tri

[Anonymous Coward]

Machine learning programmers everywhere hate it!

That Sounds Like Fun

[Greyfox]

Come with me and you'll be
In a world of headline automation!
Take a look and you'll see
headline automation!

Obligatory

[pushing-robot]

When asked to form a sentence, the system can now output a single word and continues the prediction process to find related words

https://xkcd.com/1427/

Come to think of it, I need a browser plugin that randomly cuts off the end of sentences and replaces them with autocompleted words.
Extra credit if the algorithm was trained on religious texts, trashy romance novels and operettas.

AI My Ass

[Jane Q. Public]

It may have been generated via "AI" techniques, but the results are little if any better than a simple Markov-Chain text generator, of the kind I built back in the 80s with my programmable calculator... and used today to generate spam emails.

The only difference I see is that there are pictures accompanying the "articles". But I don't see anything about an algorithm for that, so I think I am safe to presume that the text is generated by the so-called "AI", but composed by an actual human.

But maybe not... the pictures seem pretty random and unrelated to the texts. So it could be done algorithmically... but then it's still just as UNimpressive.

Re:AI My Ass

[Jane Q. Public]

... And here is some output from a simple (naive) Markov-Chain generator fed Alice in Wonderland:

It unfolded that it and then all the water and see whether it's marked 'poison' or not," for she had nibbled some more tea," the Cat said, without opening itself up on tiptoe and peeped over them, all ornamented with her head through that day.

"You ought to her lips, saying tone; "don't be nervous, or I'll have finished," said the King, "call the party I ever was a little feeble, squeaking voice.

"Then you should say what was coming to, but it was all ridges and found that it led into a tidy little cart-wheels and that's a fact."

Just then Alice (she had kept a piece out of sight.

Alice was a paper label, with the wood. "It's a Cheshire-Cat," said the Cat in a languid, sleepy voice.

"What do you know about the same solemn tone, "For the fire, stirring a long hookah and take it and there. There was no "One, two, the Caterpillar took the house before seen a rabbit with the Queen, stamping about something; Alice heard this, she found that sort.

Next came the royal children; there were trying every now and then hurried out, "The race was over at the Mouse only shook its head impatiently and was just begin?"

This question is 'What?'"

Alice was just going to get very tired of swimming away.

"You're looking about for serpents! There's no name signed at the same thing, you know about two feet high and was "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"

"I'm glad they'll do next!" thought, "it's sure to do with you. Mind now!"

"He took me for her neck from being broke off and Alice heard it muttering to eat or drink under the immediate adoption of more energetic remediesâ""

"Speak English!" said the Pigeon, raising its eyes, "Of course," said the King and very gravely, "I think of anger, and tried to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she did not get hold of any good reason to be afraid of it.

Presentâ"at least notice this morning I've nothing to do.' Said the Knave of Hearts.

The King looked up and bread and birds with draggled feathers, the animals with the words "DRINK ME" beautifully printed on going to turn into a cucumber-frame or some way out of prisoner toâ"to somebody to talk to."

"How are you grow shorter, until there was hardly knowâ"No more, thank ye. I'm better now," Alice thought the flamingo and tucked it and people up like a telescopes. There was a general chorus, "Yes, please do!" But when they had been. world of trees, and I've tried her way through was more hopeless than ever.

Parameters are adjustable. It can be made to make more sense than this, and there are some refinements to the general technique that aren't present here, particularly in the way of punctuation. I just generated a quick-and-dirty on the fly.

Re:AI My Ass

[dotancohen]

It may have been generated via "AI" techniques, but the results are little if any better than a simple Markov-Chain text generator, of the kind I built back in the 80s with my programmable calculator... and used today to generate spam emails.

You sent spam emails today? Dickhead.

(For the stupid: I know what he meant.)

Re:AI My Ass

[martas]

Neural network marketing is surprisingly good. After the initial wave a few decades ago of computer scientists promising to solve all the world's problems by reinventing basic statistical methods under sexy names, I thought the hype had mostly died down by the mid 2000's. But there's been a hell of a comeback, I think in large part because of very successful marketing by the likes of Andrew Ng and whoever is behind the deep learning stuff at Google.

And then there's the recent wave of high profile doomsaying about AI with 100 year old notions. I still haven't figured what's really up with that. Could just be attention-seeking, but maybe there was something else behind it.

Hmmm sounds familiar

[phayes]

The name they gave to their invention: Timothy

What a coincidence, we have our very own clickbait generating Timothy here on /. too!

Re:Let's try it on slashdot

[msimm]

Too old school for most of the remaining readers. Slashdot, a site that initially attracted a high number of reasonably highly technically skilled readers, remains at the brink of irrelevance. That's a headline. Pandering to the lowest common denominator was cute back in the day when we all knew it was an inside joke. The typos and overt clickbate along with the inside jokes were fun. But after a while when a friend doesn't grow with the rest of his peers...eventually the ole hijinx get old. Nobody should want to be a 40 year old stoner journalist failure or to emulate one.