A recently published Microsoft patent shares a concept to automatically generate stories. Titled ‘Enhanced Storytelling with Auto-generated Content and Annotations,’ it focuses primarily on user-created content.
“In some embodiments according to the present disclosure, producing the background story behind user-created content can be facilitated by gathering and collecting suggestions for the background story at various points in time during the creation of the content[…]The suggestions can be gathered at points in time based on a recorded history of the process of producing the user-created content.”
One example this could come in useful is when sharing a video or pictures of a trip to social media. During its creation, a user would be utilizing various clips with geolocations and could tag users in the content. Microsoft’s feature would produce the background story behind the trip automatically, possibly tying in relevant themes, news articles, and other search engine results to enhance it.
The idea is to take the burden of information gathering away from the user. If writing a travel journal, for example, they could find information about the locations they visited and local events automatically populated in Microsoft Photos or OneDrive.
The feature could possibly be used to showcase the process of a design, too. For example, Paint3D keeps a detailed Timeline of user inputs during content creation that can be replayed. In a professional environment, this could then be presented to others with supporting information from other sources.
As an early concept, the patent is somewhat vague and doesn’t go into specific detail about Microsoft’s plans for implementation. Still, it could prove a useful tool should it ever make it to market.
