Could AI prevent suicide?

9

October

2019

3.5/5 (2)

Is your phone spying on you? This question runs through the heads of many cell phone users today. For example, when you are checking out a new bag on the internet, all by yourself. The next thing you know, this bag follows you everywhere on the internet, like Facebook, online retailers and even LinkedIn. It is like this bag is stalking you. This is phenomenon is commonly known as targeted advertising (The Goodwill Community Foundation, 2019). What if the same principles of artificial intelligence and neural networks that are used for targeted advertising, could be used for recognizing patterns in the behaviour of millions of suicidal people.

 

As Brynjolfsson and McAfee (2017) state: artificial intelligence is changing the way we interact with data. Machines are really good in finding patterns in very large data sets, and they can make sense of those patterns much better and easier than humans can (Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2017). Today, there is still a lot of stigma associated with mental illnesses, and this might be the reason for people to hesitate if they should consult others if they are struggling. The suicide rates are still increasing each year in the United States, even though there is a good way to recognize and reach the people who are struggling (Howard, 2019). There are a few common suicide warning signs, as Howard (2019) discusses in the video below.

The problem is that humans are not very good at detecting these patterns, like changes in someone’s sleep, exercise levels and public interaction. Artificial intelligence and deep learning can learn how to recognize these patterns (Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2017). By, for example, tracking your social media habits, google searches and sleep data, artificial intelligence can recognize these warning signs and direct you to suicide prevention hotlines and websites. Would that not be amazing?

 

 

 

References 

Brynjolfsson, E. and McAfee, A. (2017). The Business Of Artificial Intelligence: What it can – and cannot – do for your organization. Harvard Business Review.

Howard, J. (2019). The US suicide rate is up 33% since 1999. [online] CNN. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/20/health/suicide-rates-nchs-study/index.html [Accessed 9 Oct. 2019].

The Goodwill Community Foundation. (2019). The Now: What is Targeted Advertising?. [online] Available at: https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/thenow/what-is-targeted-advertising/1/ [Accessed 8 Oct. 2019].

Please rate this

Suicide and Social Media – Cause or Solution?

9

September

2019

5/5 (5)

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. 

Please rate this