This is one of those stories that might be a little more surprising than it first appears. Google is running an experiment on its Google News site, displaying a set of “editor’s pick” links on a given big story. When Google launched the News service in 2002, they said, “This page was generated entirely by computer algorithms without human editors. No humans were harmed or even used in the creation of this page.” And that’s really the whole idea of Google itself: it doesn’t make information, it organizes and retrieves it. So even though this isn’t original content they’re making, they’re introducing the idea of a person making news judgments. Is it an indication of a more human future for Google? An admission that algorithm isn’t the key to explaining a story? OR AM I JUST GETTING WORKED UP OVER NOTHING?
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