CBS Televised Computer-Generated Stories in 1960—and Ten Million Watched!
summary
CBS airs three computer‑generated playlets on October 26, 1960, created by SAGA II script generator running on the TXO machine; MIT delivers nine programmatic screenplays and CBS builds sets and casts actors who perform mechanically detailed object handling the system uses probabilistic scoring mechanisms and an inebriation factor that yields emergent outcomes one aired playlet has the robber kill the sheriff a buggy run becomes “glitch art” Nielsen reports about 10 million viewers and the Writers Guild demands the computer credit be removed.
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chapters (10)
- 0:001960 CBS experiment intro
- 1:19Computer-written Western idea
- 2:23Computational media in 1960
- 3:51Programming TX-0 for stories
- 5:16Probabilistic branching for stories
- 6:22SAGA II real-time interface
- 7:26Natural language generation
- 8:06Casting computer scripts
- 8:51First TV villain killed by machine
- 9:12Ratings success and controversy
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