Computers are a step closer to becoming the next Stephen King, JK Rowling or George RR Martin thanks to a new artificial intelligence software that writes its own fables.
Researchers at the University of NSW have developed a computer system that generates simple stories constructed on a psychological model.
Perhaps it was inevitable that our use of technology would eventually into one of the most fundamental areas of human behaviours: story telling.
All humans need to do is select from one of 22 available storylines wired around an emotional core, such as retribution.
The computer then plots out the emotions the characters need to experience and constructs events to match each plot point.
The new system is the brainchild of passionate reader and computer science PhD student Margaret Sarlej.
“Computer generated storytelling is in its very early stages, and we’re a long way from a computer becoming the next Tim Winton, but this is a step forward,” Sarlej said.
Sarlej created the fundamental storytelling engine of the system by encoding the 22 available fable types with the series and structure of emotions characters need to experience to convey that moral message.
