Thomson Financial has announced plans to expand its use of computers to write financial news stories, a practice that began in March. OK, the results may not be journalistic gems, but they are fast. According to the Financial Times, a computer can spit out a report on a company in three-tenths of a second after the firm issues its financial results. “This is not about cost but about delivering information to our customers at a speed at which they can make an almost immediate trading decision,” Thomson Senior V.P. of Strategy Matthew Burkley told the FT. “This means we can free up reporters so they have more time to think.” The 100% accurate computer stories get help from previous results stored in Thomson’s database. Burkley, admitting the computer reports are somewhat canned, said, “We might try and write a few more adjectives into the program.”
