Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence Can Now Identify Suicidal Behavior – Futurism

In Brief

Facebook has gradually grown from supposed social media fad to an everyday essential that has amassed a monthly base of 1.86 million users. Theever-scaling operation frequently pushes out new features to keep users interested, and at the moment, its flagship project is Facebook Live,a service that lets users broadcast real-time videos to their followers. While ithas found favor with professionals and laymen alike, ithas also become an unfortunate platform for live suicides.

Noting that live suicides had occurred on similar platforms before, Facebook has been working to develop a pattern-recognizing algorithm that could check for signs even before the tragic incident occurred.

Now, when suicide-like behavior is detected, Facebook will provide the at-risk user with resources that range from the ability to contact a friend or helpline to a few potentially helpful tips for dealing with depression without halting their stream. On the other end, viewerscan flag broadcasts that they think demonstrate at-risk behavior while also receiving guidance from Facebook on how to proceed.

While the system is rolling out worldwide, the option of contacting a crisis counselor helpline via Facebook Messenger will be available in the U.S. only.

Skeptics may argue that a message from Facebook might not be as effective as immediately involving a friend. However, Vanessa Callison-Burch, a Facebook product manager,told BBCthat the social media companyis hoping to avoid invading anyones privacy or tampering with personal dynamics between friends. They acknowledge how critical a fast response time is, so as soon asthe system identifies an at-risk user, a community operations team rapidly reviews the case.

The U.S. alone averages one suicide every 13 minutes, and it is the countrys tenth leading cause of death. While Facebooks system is still new, it is reassuring to see that the social media companyisdedicated to protecting its users from adding to this troubling statistic.

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Facebook's Artificial Intelligence Can Now Identify Suicidal Behavior - Futurism