Machine Learning Generates Clickbait Headlines That Will Shock You! (thestack.com) 100
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).
Annoy is more likely. (Score:4, Funny)
Annoy is more likely.
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The text makes about as much sense as the typical over dramatic Facebook post everyone sees constantly. It would be funny to train the NN with posts of that sort, and generate entire Facebook "personalities" that blend in with any other angst-ridden grammatically-challenged Facebook poster. Maybe it would even confuse the data scrapers and spies out there, who knows?
It ought to be funny in any case.
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LOL, honestly, just scrape a couple of decades of Weekly World News.
It's had to do better.
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I have mod points... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I have mod points... (Score:5, Funny)
I know one cool trick to do this; It'll shock you how easy it is!
Re:I have mod points... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I have mod points... (Score:4, Funny)
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Ten Tips To Survive The Coming Headline Apocalypse!
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Why would you want to downvote the headline? Given the subject matter I thought it was appropriate and rather funny.
Took the bait. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Ya, I clicked on it.
You just read my headline. What happens next will make you click it!
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Well at least that answers the question "You'll never guess what he did next".
Detect clickbait headlines with this one weird tri (Score:2, Funny)
Machine learning programmers everywhere hate it!
Wasn't there just an article (Score:2)
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If you want an example check out https://www.google.ca/finance?q=sial
Sigma-Aldrich was bought out by Merck over a year ago for $140/share, but they had to wait for approval from various countries, "with the approval of the European Commission (EC) being conditional upon the sale of parts of Sigma-Aldrich's solvents and inorganics business in Europe" which they're now waiting to close. Until that happens there's very little interesting financial news about the company, and the share price has been steady a l
Needs some work, maybe by next year (Score:1)
It's still not better than man-made Engrish.
That Sounds Like Fun (Score:3)
In a world of headline automation!
Take a look and you'll see
headline automation!
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Fun parody song, would upvote again.
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Eh, almost. Rhyming "headline automation" with "headline automation" might be considered a little unimaginative.
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Come with me and you'll be In a world of mindless obligation! Take a look and you'll see headline automation!
-FTFY
Do you mean like this one? (Score:2)
From yesterday's Slashdot entries:
FBI and Join UK Against Forces Against Spread of Dridex Banking Malware [slashdot.org]
Sounds like machine-generated gibberish to me.
So that's what (Score:2)
the URL's next to the article posting are!
Obligatory (Score:3, Interesting)
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/ [xkcd.com]
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 (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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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.
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That doesn't work so well with small inputs... and wasn't part of the M.I.T. generator I demoed.
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20 to 30?! Markov chains are almost 90 years old! They're fabulous, especially for project Euler problem 'flea circus' ;)
As with many innovations, not only practical but (today) SIMPLE applications took a long time to develop.
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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.)
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"New Rule: Lawrence V. Williams, Turkey Or Child -- A Good Guide"
If loving this is wrong, I don't want to be right :)
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"New Rule: Lawrence V. Williams, Turkey Or Child -- A Good Guide"
If loving this is wrong, I don't want to be right :)
"Taylor Swift: The New Face of Victim of Peace Talks"
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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.
Try reading the article. The pictures are selecting using a standard image search with the generated headline as topic.
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And then there's the recent wave of high profile doomsayi
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It is the AI trying to provide cover for itself.
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Blogger Uses One Weird Old Trick For Headlines (Score:2)
The method Eidnes used is hardly anything new. Frankly, I'd be surprised if many existing clickbait headlines weren't generated in this way to begin with. After all, it'd be, I think, easier to run some statistical analysis on the headlines that get the most traffic, training the generator accordingly, than to try to conceive of catchy-sounding headlines for every piece.
Still, it's obvious he put some effort into this, and it's somewhat interesting to read about, so at least there's that.
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You (probably) joke, but the unsettling thing is that you're right. I think this has things to teach us about 'popularity' and 'survival of the fittest'.
Perhaps I'm just crazy, but it seems to me that if this works in practice, it disproves 'market' theory. In other words, if you reduce all friction and gatekeeping, everything becomes shit :)
This will come as a shock to many 'disruptive' startups believing they're making a better world aaah, who am I kidding? They're FINE with that as long as it makes them
Re: Blogger Uses One Weird Old Trick For Headlines (Score:1)
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Are you kidding? I have a horrible fascination with US 'Kitchen Nightmares'. These tricks totally work on me :D
There is NO market that isn't completely destroyed by the removal of friction and gatekeepers. It's shit all the way down!
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But how can we use this technology to encourage women to join STEM fields?
Actually, I've dated women who speak like a Markov-Chain generator in conversation. I'm sure that they would provide valuable contributions to this project!
Let's try it on slashdot (Score:1)
Snowden Tweets Hillary in Linux: NodeJS Cows found on Pluto Goatse Beowulf Cluster of Hot H1B Grits!
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You missed a few clickbait terms: Windows 10, Systemd, Women in Tech, SJW, Gamergate, 3D Printing, NSA, Network Neutrality, Comcast, Drones...
I should probably be modded down -1 Flamebait just for the sheer volatility of combining all these terms into one sentence.
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Re:Let's try it on slashdot (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmmm sounds familiar (Score:3, Funny)
The name they gave to their invention: Timothy
What a coincidence, we have our very own clickbait generating Timothy here on /. too!
I never open click-bait articles (Score:2)
Greenpeace feminists! (Score:2)
Stanislaw Lem got there in 1976 (Score:2)
Stanislaw Lem's 1976 short story "One hundred and thirty seven seconds" ("Sto trzydzieci siedem sekund") is strangely similar to this (except for the fact that they eventually conclude the article-writing neural network can see 137 seconds into the future).
It's over! (Score:2)
If the computer can generate headlines making you think of Betteridge's law of headlines, then journalism is really dead, that was the last bastion of the living, breathing journalist.
confused? (Score:1)
Does this type of clickbait even work anymore? (Score:2)
How often can you see a headline that says "you'll be shocked" or "you won't believe" before semantic satiation sets in and it just becomes meaningless text that you scroll past? I don't think those phrases have raised any interested from me since sometime in the 90s.
Good news for Gawker (Score:2)
good (Score:2)
That is one step closers to automatically detecting this clickbait bullshit, so my ad blocker can filter it out...
That's what they intend to do, yes? Right?
So its SwiftKey? (Score:1)
Come-on App devs, gimme some ammunition.... (Score:2)
Wish I have the energy to write one. But after hacking all day at work, I dont have the stamina to embark on more coding in my leisure. It should be childs play for those who hack browser extension
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oh, crap (Score:2)
A good use for this. (Score:2)
This will be a perfect testbed to train my clickbaitblock plugin to go along with my adblock plugin.
Impressive idea, but maybe not ready just yet... (Score:1)