Facebook is turning to artificial intelligence to detect if someone might be contemplating suicide. The social media giant already has mechanisms for flagging posts from people thinking about harming themselves. The new feature is intended to detect such posts before anyone reports them. CBS Philadelphia reports the AI tools use pattern recognition to identify signals, like comments asking if someone is OK. The Facebook team will then be alerted and will work to quickly get the person help.
The company is also using AI to prioritize the order that flagged posts are sent to its human moderators so they can quickly alert local authorities. “In the last month alone, these AI tools have helped us connect with first responders quickly more than 100 times,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post Monday. “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.” READ MORE
