Text mining - Software searches words for inconsistencies

CARY, N.C. -- Software can translate foreign languages, turn spoken voice into words on a page and understand e-mail well enough to automatically type customized replies.

As programmers continue trying to mimic the human brain, the day may come when software can even read your e-mail and detect lies.

In a few months, SAS Institute Inc., the world's largest private software company, will begin selling a package that could be adapted to compare word and grammar patterns to a writer's previous work and reveal inconsistencies.

SAS, which already makes fraud-detection systems for banks and phone companies, says its Text Miner program will be sold to bolster business intelligence, not uncover falsehoods.

But with the right amount of tinkering, it's not farfetched, the company believes.

"Is it here today? No. Is it theoretically possible if someone were to pursue it? Yes," said SAS spokesman Bob Chase.

The products are part of a growing inventory of so-called "text mining" software that seeks patterns hidden in vast data collections.

Revenue from sales of all types of data mining software -- of which text mining is a subgenre -- will grow from about $540 million this year to about $1.5 billion in 2005, according to market research firm IDC.

Gleaning clues

Text mining programs can write reports -- and even recommend a course of action -- by gleaning clues from e-mail, medical reports, news dispatches or consumer comments recorded by call center operators.

One unnamed U.S. oil company is using such a program to analyze employee comments on public Web sites to measure their reaction to management decisions, according to META Group consultants.

University of Louisville medical researchers are using SAS software to retrieve buckets of information on ailments and treatments found in medical literature.

The software can group articles on a particular kind of clinical research and reject others.

By 2006, companies will use text mining software to analyze customer feedback, whether it comes from the Internet, call centers or sidewalk surveys, said an analyst Alessandro Zanasi, formerly of META Group.

Personnel divisions will use it to match resumes with hiring needs. Market research divisions will be able to better track competitors and sales trends, Zanasi said.