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posted by mrpg on Tuesday November 20 2018, @06:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the is-this-good-or-bad? dept.

Submitted via IRC for takyon

Facebook Increasingly Reliant on A.I. To Predict Suicide Risk

A year ago, Facebook started using artificial intelligence to scan people's accounts for danger signs of imminent self-harm.

[...] "To just give you a sense of how well the technology is working and rapidly improving ... in the last year we've had 3,500 reports," she says. That means AI monitoring is causing Facebook to contact emergency responders an average of about 10 times a day to check on someone — and that doesn't include Europe, where the system hasn't been deployed. (That number also doesn't include wellness checks that originate from people who report suspected suicidal behavior online.)

Davis says the AI works by monitoring not just what a person writes online, but also how his or her friends respond. For instance, if someone starts streaming a live video, the AI might pick up on the tone of people's replies.

[...] "Ever since they've introduced livestreaming on their platform, they've had a real problem with people livestreaming suicides," Marks says. "Facebook has a real interest in stopping that."

He isn't sure this AI system is the right solution, in part because Facebook has refused to share key data, such as the AI's accuracy rate. How many of those 3,500 "wellness checks" turned out to be actual emergencies? The company isn't saying.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday November 20 2018, @05:21PM (1 child)

    by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Tuesday November 20 2018, @05:21PM (#764302) Journal

    Right... let's pretend that one day your best friend learns that he had been fired in disgrace from his job, and his bank account had been emptied by thieves, and his wife is leaving and taking the dog with her because she has been fucking his dog, and all his family suddenly hates him and a penniless dog-cucked loser, and so he takes the decision to end his own life. "Oh well", you say, "it's your choice. Bye, buddy."

    Except... It turns out none of that is true! At the last moment you learn that he still has his job and his money and his wife and his family and his dog! In some bizarre sitcom-esque twist of plot, he had been given completely erroneous information! Everything is actually OK! Surely in this case, you would intervene! "Wait! Stop! None of it is true! It's all OK, you don't have to do it!"
    I suspect your friend would be very grateful that you stopped him from doing something both necessary and irrevocable.

    Well, that's kind of how mental illness works. People try to kill themselves because they believe that nobody loves them and nobody cares and it doesn't matter to anyone whether they live or die. They believe it not because it's true, but because their brain chemistry is all fucked up. It's the same situation.

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  • (Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday November 20 2018, @05:24PM

    by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Tuesday November 20 2018, @05:24PM (#764306) Journal

    Oops, this was supposed to be upthread, a reply to to an AC who replied to me.