Years of experience, industry standards, and the AP’s own stylebook all help Patterson and her business desk colleagues know how to tell an earnings story. But how does a computer know? It needs sets of rules, known as algorithms, to help it.

An algorithm is designed to accomplish a particular task. Google’s search algorithm orders your page of results. Facebook’s News Feed determines which posts you see, and a navigation algorithm determines how you’ll get to the beach. Wordsmith’s algorithms write stories.

In order to write a story, Wordsmith needs both data about the specific task and guiding principles about the general one. Your GPS needs to know where you are now and where you’re going; it also needs to know that “giving directions” means showing the fastest route from point A to point B, which depends on a variety of other data like whether streets are one way, what the speed limits are, and if there’s traffic or construction. Similarly, to write an earnings story, Wordsmith needs the specific data about a company’s quarterly earnings, and it also needs to know how to tell an earnings story and what information it needs to accomplish that goal.

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