Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Tuesday November 28 2017, @08:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the if-you're-happy-and-you-know-it... dept.

Facebook is expanding its limited test run for suicide- and -self-harm reporting tools to the masses. To get better at detection the social network will begin implementing pattern recognition for posts and Live videos to detect when someone could be presenting suicidal thoughts. From there, VP of product management Guy Rosen writes that the social network will also concentrate efforts to improve alerting first responders when the need arises. Facebook will also have more humans looking at posts flagged by its algorithms.

Currently the passive/AI detection tools are only available in the US, but soon those will roll out across the globe -- European Union countries notwithstanding. In the past month, Facebook has pinged over 100 first responders about potentially fatal posts, in addition to those that were reported by someone's friends and family.

Apparently, "Are you okay?" and "Can I help?" comments are good indicators that someone might be going through a very dark moment. More than that, Rosen says that thanks to the algorithms and those phrases, Facebook has picked up on videos that might've otherwise gone unnoticed prior.

"With all the fear about how AI may be harmful in the future, it's good to remind ourselves how AI is actually helping save people's lives today," CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on the social network.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/27/facebook-ai-suicide-prevention-tools/


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Wednesday November 29 2017, @01:49AM

    by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Wednesday November 29 2017, @01:49AM (#602772) Homepage Journal

    They didn't roll this out years ago.

    Before I junked FaceFuck, there were a bunch of times people mistook posted song lyrics as a cry for help from me.

    And those posts were just filled with comments like "It will be okay" and "Are you all right? You know I love you." and the like.

    I think I'd have had my door busted down at least three or four times.

    These days, even a simple wellness check [gothamist.com] can make you quite unwell (read: dead).

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3