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Man vs Machine Story Writing Contest

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the games-people-play dept.

ari{Dal} writes "Brutus.1 will challenge humans in a contest to write the best short story on the theme of betrayal. It took six years to develop at a cost of about 2 million dollars US, and writes stories based on logic, AI, math, and grammar structures. The judges will be challenged, not only to pick the best story, but also to spot the computer written one. The contest runners don't believe they'll be able to tell the difference. "

3 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. A Sample Story from Brutus.1 by ASCIIMan · · Score: 4

    There was an article in the May 1998 issue of MIT Technology Review which had a sample story called "Betrayal" (very original name) written by Brutus...

    Here's the link: http://www.techreview.com/a rticles/ma98/bringsjord.html

  2. Call me cynical, but... by rde · · Score: 4

    Okay, within a 500-word constraint it might do well, but that's only because in a story that short there's no room for developments. I've always felt that computers would (some day) do a decent job at drabbles (stories of exactly 100 words), but anything over a couple of thousands of words is bound to be distinguishable from the work of a hume.
    Of course, I try to be open as well as cynical, so I look forward to reading some of Brutus' offerings.

  3. More information on Brutus (including stories) by osmanb · · Score: 5
    For those that are interested, the official homepage of BRUTUS is located at:

    http://www.rpi.edu/dept/ppcs/BRUTUS /brutus.html

    It's got some stories generated by the program, and other information by Selmer. (Incidentally, I've now had Selmer for three separate courses, and he is one of the absolute best professors I've had in my four years. Period.) Selmer fully believes that "true" AI is impossible, and that man is more than a machine, but has devoted his life to the study of AI anyway, and finding close approximations.

    -Brian