Automated Insights
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology, Natural language generation software |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Robbie Allen |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Wordsmith |
| Owner | Vista Equity Partners |
| Website | automatedinsights |
Automated Insights (AI) is a technology firm based in the United States that specializes in natural language generation (NLG) software designed to transform big data into coherent, readable text.
Their primary offering, Wordsmith, converts organized data into written narratives, allowing enterprises to automate the creation of reports, articles, and other textual content. Prominent organizations such as the Associated Press utilize this technology to automatically generate news articles derived from financial datasets.
In 2013, Automated Insights produced 300 million content pieces—exceeding the combined output of leading media corporations. By 2014, this figure had grown to one billion generated stories, and by 2016, production surpassed 1.5 billion narratives.
History
Robbie Allen founded the company in 2007 during his tenure as an engineer at Cisco Systems. Initially operating under the name StatSheet, the business concentrated on detailed NCAA basketball statistics and other sports data. In 2011, it rebranded as Automated Insights to broaden its focus beyond sports-related content generation.
In February 2015, Vista Equity Partners acquired Automated Insights, enabling it to continue functioning as an independent entity.
October 2015 marked the beta launch of Wordsmith as a SaaS product, granting businesses access to natural language generation capabilities.
By January 2017, Automated Insights collaborated with Amazon to host a hackathon aimed at promoting Wordsmith’s integration with voice platforms such as Alexa.
Natural language generation
Automated Insights delivers its NLG solutions through the Wordsmith platform. This technology transforms structured datasets into human-like written narratives by employing predefined templates, facilitating high-volume, consistent content creation.
Wordsmith
Wordsmith represents Automated Insights’ leading AI platform for natural language generation. It leverages comprehensive data analysis alongside linguistic rules to automate narrative production. Available both as a standalone product and a service, Wordsmith enables users to upload datasets and design customized narrative templates through an online interface since its 2015 update.
The platform functions similarly to a "personal data scientist," interpreting data and generating personalized reports in clear language. Notable clients include Yahoo!, Associated Press, and Tableau Software.
Associated Press
In June 2014, The Associated Press implemented Automated Insights' technology to automate most U.S. corporate earnings reports, expanding quarterly earnings coverage by nearly fifteen times. AP emphasized that automation would allow journalists to focus more on reporting rather than data handling. It became the first newsroom featuring an automated editor overseeing such content. The software increased AP's volume of earnings stories more than tenfold. Academic research from Stanford and the University of Washington demonstrated that this technology impacted stock market activity by enhancing trade volumes and liquidity for companies previously receiving little attention.
On October 7, 2015, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah aired a segment discussing AP’s use of automation.
Yahoo
Automated Insights produces customized summaries and previews specifically for Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football.
Collaborations and integrations
By June 2017, Automated Insights had established partnerships with Amazon Alexa, Tableau, TIBCO Spotfire, MicroStrategy, Zapier, Microsoft Excel, and Google Sheets to advance its natural language generation technology.
Other
Through its Wordsmith for Marketing platform, Automated Insights streamlines the creation of marketing reports and delivers tailored content solutions to clients such as Comcast, Edmunds.com, Great Call, Digital STROM, and Bodybuilding.com.