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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday March 02 2017, @11:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the because-no-one-will-game-this dept.

Facebook plans to use artificial intelligence and update its tools and services to help prevent suicides among its users.

The world's largest social media network said it plans to integrate its existing suicide prevention tools for Facebook posts into its live-streaming feature, Facebook Live, and its Messenger service.

Artificial intelligence will be used to help spot users with suicidal tendencies, the company said in a blogpost on Wednesday.

Facebook commented that they're updating the tools and resources offered to people who may be thinking of suicide, as well as the support to concerned friends and family members:

  • Integrated suicide prevention tools to help people in real time on Facebook Live
  • Live chat support from crisis support organizations through Messenger
  • Streamlined reporting for suicide, assisted by artificial intelligence

Original Submission

Related Stories

Facebook Live Murder: A New Global Pastime 58 comments

A Thai man live streamed the murder of his own daughter as well as his suicide:

A Thai man filmed himself killing his baby daughter on Facebook Live, before taking his own life, Thai police say. The 21-year-old hanged his daughter, and then himself, at a deserted hotel in Phuket on Monday, reportedly after an argument with his wife. Facebook sent condolences to the family for the "appalling" incident and said that the content had now been removed. The company pledged a review of its processes after footage of a US killing stayed online for hours this month. The footage of the Thai killing had also been available on video sharing website YouTube, but the company took it down after the BBC alerted it to its presence.

Another story discusses the aftermath of the killing. This follows an incident where a man streamed his murder of a randomly picked stranger in Cleveland. That murder had already led to a "backlash" against Facebook:

It is an issue that Facebook, the world's largest social network, has had to contend with more frequently as it has bet big on new forms of media like live video, which give it a venue for more lucrative advertising. The criticism of Facebook over Mr. Stephens's video built swiftly Monday, with critics calling it a dark time for the company and outrage spreading on social media over how long it had taken — more than two hours — for the video to be pulled down. Ryan A. Godwin, the victim's grandson, pleaded with other users on social media to stop sharing the video online.

[...] Justin Osofsky, a vice president of Facebook, said in a public post late Monday that the company knows "we need to do better" to stop videos like that of the shooting from appearing. He said the company was working to ensure that such content and reports of it can be flagged faster, including through the use of artificial intelligence and a better review process.

NSFW: You can watch the Cleveland murder on LiveLeak. This video purportedly shows the murder in Phuket, Thailand, but you won't see much.

Some other incidents and related news:

Facebook Launches Live Video and Photo+Video Collages
Muslim Terrorist Kills French Cop, Wife While Livestreaming on Facebook
Falcon Heights, Minnesota Police Shooting Facebook Live Video [WARNING: GRAPHIC] [UPDATED]
Police Request Shut Off of Armed Woman's Social Media Accounts During Fatal Standoff
Hate Crime Charges Filed Over Beating Live Streamed to Facebook
Facebook Turns to AI to Prevent Suicides (eventually, your intention to murder and commit suicide will be countered by a compassionate chatbot)


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @12:18PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @12:18PM (#473818)

    "Why did he commit suicide?"

    "He just no longer could stand those Facebook bots trying to prevent him from committing suicide."

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @12:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @12:25PM (#473822)

      That's so irony I might just rust to death.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @01:07PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @01:07PM (#473834)

      mod this guy up! .. its the artificiality of bots, be they in artificial or human form which leads into the suicidal spiral by way of alienation and depression.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @01:33PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @01:33PM (#473844)

      But... it promised that after this test there would be cake and grief counseling!

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by scruffybeard on Thursday March 02 2017, @01:43PM

    by scruffybeard (533) on Thursday March 02 2017, @01:43PM (#473846)

    Bring back the old Office Clippy: "It looks like you are trying to write a suicide note. Would you like some help?"

    I'll leave it as an exercise for the programmer as to what to do from here.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 02 2017, @01:52PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday March 02 2017, @01:52PM (#473849)

    This sounds less like humanitarian caring and helping and more like a corporate loss prevention strategy.

    "What are you doing to address these serious situations?"

    "We have an extensive program which responds to distressing information within X minutes, responding with the best evidence based interventional messaging from the current peer reviewed literature."

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Thursday March 02 2017, @02:18PM

    by Rivenaleem (3400) on Thursday March 02 2017, @02:18PM (#473856)

    This looks like something straight out of an episode of Person of Interest... oh wait it is.

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 02 2017, @02:49PM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 02 2017, @02:49PM (#473876) Journal

    Some chump will off himself, and his greiving family will sue Facefook for having failed to prevent the suicide. The whole thing will be portrayed as if Facefook supplied the weapon/rope/bridge/gas with which they guy killed himself. Does Suckerberg have no idea what kind of liability he's jumping into here?

    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday March 02 2017, @03:44PM

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday March 02 2017, @03:44PM (#473902) Homepage
      What will get him into trouble is when he recruits thousands of Suicidal Sids in order to *train* the AI before rolling it out live.

      Just sign up here:

      [ ] I want to have made a difference that helped others during my life
      [ SUBMIT ]
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @05:02PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @05:02PM (#473941)

      More like facebook will find a way to make money off the data about how suicidal people are. They will sell the data to insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and gun companies. Suckerberg knows exactly what he's getting into.

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday March 02 2017, @06:34PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Thursday March 02 2017, @06:34PM (#473986)

        "You recently searched for size 54x28 pants. May we recommend the XXL caskets from fattyburial.com?"

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by cpghost on Thursday March 02 2017, @09:26PM (2 children)

    by cpghost (4591) on Thursday March 02 2017, @09:26PM (#474112) Homepage

    How exactly is that Facebook's or any other busybody's business if someone they don't know at all (*) wants to commit suicide? If people want to log out (prematurely?) from a life of what they perceive as misery and pain -- whether subjectively or objective doesn't matter --, why try to interfere? It's their life and their prerogative to do with as they choose, including terminating it. At most, help them select the least painful way to exit; a way that prevents long term brain and other bodily damage should it fail. Way too many suicide candidates botch their attempts by doing it in an amateurish way, and either suffer horribly before dying, or sentence themselves to a handicapped life thereafter. Is that worth it? There are better ways to quit to those who are really determined.

    (*): granted, Facebook knows more about someone that that person knows about him or herself, but that's another story...

    I know, many people will now reply by saying that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Really? Some problems are permanent too, like terminal illnesses, hopeless situations with no resolutions in sight etc... Not every legitimate suicide candidate is a teenager with a bad case of unrequited love. Many of them are dead set about it and genuinely seeking relief from neverending pain.

    --
    Cordula's Web. http://www.cordula.ws/
    • (Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday March 03 2017, @03:14AM (1 child)

      by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Friday March 03 2017, @03:14AM (#474244)

      facebook is not "cool" anymore.

      They don't want their users all dying on them.

      Too cynical?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @04:08PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @04:08PM (#474405)

        that's what i came here to post. slavebook can't have all it's slaves croaking, now can they.

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