#Miami Herald’s newest real estate reporter is a robot

Here’s some news that may push journalists’ buttons.

The Miami’s Herald’s newest “reporter” is a robot who churns out real estate stories like a machine, according to a report.

The Pulitzer prize-winning newspaper has enlisted artificial-intelligence software to write dozens of two-to-three paragraph stories about property sales with a simple formula, according to The Miami New Times.

The so-called Miami Herald Bot has at least 50 bylines and sometimes bangs out four articles per day. Its recent headlines include,  “Coral Gables, Florida home sells for $5.1 million” and “North Miami Beach, Florida house sells for $2.4 million.”

In an article about a condo selling for $5.4 million, the bot’s clunky lede proclaims: “On August 26, 2021, a seller has sold a roomy property built in 1997 located in the 1600 block of Brickell Avenue in Miami-Dade County.”

Another slightly-less-awkwardly composed article declares, “A recent condominium built in 2019 located in the 18900 block of Collins Avenue in Miami-Dade County has a new owner.”

To explain its use of newsroom robots — which comes as dozens of local papers across the country struggle to stay alive —  the Miami Herald posted a note at the bottom of each article saying it’s just an “experiment.”

“This article was generated by the Miami Herald Bot, artificial intelligence software that analyzes structured information from prominent real estate data providers and applies it to templates created by journalists in the newsroom,” it states.

“We are experimenting with this and other new ways of providing more useful content to our readers and subscribers.”

It adds, “You can report errors or bugs to [email protected].”

No word on where to report snooze-inducing scoops.