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Looking for an old short story where a publishing company buys a robot to help with copy-editing (typing on a manual type-writer...). The robot then ends up copy-editing, then writing the stories, then gets "returned" because it's taking someone's job, and is better than it's human counterparts.

I love this story because they get everything right about modern word processors... except they have a physical robot to do it on a type writer... unfortunately, I can't remember the author or the title.

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  • Do you recall what kind of stuff they were publishing? Was it science fiction? – user14111 Apr 4 '17 at 6:12
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This could be Asimov's story Galley Slave, one of the Susan Calvin series.

The story is a courtroom drama. It opens in 2033, with Simon Ninheimer, a professor of sociology, suing US Robots for loss of professional reputation. He contends that robot EZ-27 (aka "Easy"), whilst leased to Northeastern University for use as a proofreader, deliberately altered and rewrote parts of his book Social Tensions Involved in Space Flight and their Resolution whilst checking the galley proofs (hence the title). Ninheimer holds that the alterations to his book make him appear an incompetent scholar who has misrepresented the work of his professional colleagues in fields such as criminal justice in absurd ways.

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  • That's what I thought at first, but it doesn't seem to fit most of the plot in the question. Unless the OP misremembers the bulk of the story. – Mr Lister Apr 4 '17 at 9:00
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    Wouldn't be the first time. Personally I thought the "robot as copy-editor" was sufficient to make it a match. – Daniel Roseman Apr 4 '17 at 9:01
  • It seemed a lot like "Galley Slave" to me, too. But "The robot then ends up copy-editing, then writing the stories, then gets "returned" because it's taking someone's job, and is better than it's human counterparts." doesn't exactly match. And I think I remember a similar questin. – M. A. Golding Apr 4 '17 at 18:54
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Here is a link to a similar question:

"Looking for short story about a writing machine"

Your plot summary seems like "Galley Slave" to me but with some differences. It is possible that you're remembering both "Galley Slave" and "Fault-Intolerant" and conflating details of both.

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