How Algorithms Are Becoming YouTube Stars

(Credit: Pixabay) Machines are becoming increasingly adept at creating content. Whether it be news articles, poetry, or visual art, computers are learning how to mimic human creativity in novel — and sometimes disturbing — ways. Text-based content is fairly easy for computers to generate. Anyone who has used a smartphone to text knows that operating systems are pretty savvy in predicting speech patterns. But videos and other visual mediums are a little more challenging — not only does a computer need to predict a logical thought, it also needs to visualize that thought in a coherent manner. It’s a challenge that came to light last week with the revelation that Youtube is home to some decidedly unsettling children’s videos. They feature popular characters like Elsa from “Frozen” or Spiderman and the kind of simple songs and colorful graphics every parent is familiar with. Watch these videos for more than a ...