Suicide is among the three leading causes of death among youngsters, and every 40 seconds there is a death by suicide. There is increasing evidence that the widespread use of social media affects suicide-related behaviour as suicide is not an individual phenomenon, but it is influenced by social and environmental factors. Cyberbullying and cyber harassment, are several ways in which people can be targeted by means of social networking sites. This poses the question: are social media just platforms that encourage harmful behaviour leading to suicidal tendencies, or can their extensive network and knowledge of its users be used for good in leading the battle against this type of preventable death?
During the second day of F8, the developers’ conference of Facebook, Mike Schroepfer (CTO) described Artificial Intelligence as “the best way to protect our users on a large scale”. In the context of everyday use, this refers to automatically deleting fake accounts spreading hateful messages and fake news without the need for manual interference. However, there are some applications of Artificial Intelligence that could go beyond deleting messages and accounts.
Various social media are now using both Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to detect posts or videos in which someone might be expressing thoughts of suicide. Due to the vast amount of posts that could be cross-referenced with users whom are known to have actually committed suicide, the algorithm has become very good at recognising early signs of mental discomfort, after which suggestions for help could be issued. Facebook researcher Umut Özertem has said that more than thousands of cases have been recognised, and in some cases where imminent danger was observed local resources where contacted to intervene.
Let’s hope for these technologies to be used effectively and ethically, as we can already start to see the good they can bring to modern society.
Sources:
de Andrade, N. N. G., Pawson, D., Muriello, D., Donahue, L., & Guadagno, J. (2018). Ethics and artificial intelligence: suicide prevention on facebook. Philosophy & Technology, 31(4), 669-684.
Luxton, D. D., June, J. D., & Fairall, J. M. (2012). Social media and suicide: a public health perspective. American journal of public health, 102(S2), S195-S200.
NU.nl. Hoe kunstmatige intelligentie sociale media kan verbeteren. Retrieved from https://www.nu.nl/internet/5254022/kunstmatige-intelligentie-sociale-media-kan-verbeteren.html on 8 September 2019.
