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Machine Learning System Detects Emotions and Suicidal Behavior
An anonymous reader writes with word as reported by The Stack of a new machine learning technology under development at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology "which can identify emotion in text messages and email, such as sarcasm, irony and even antisocial or suicidal thoughts." Computer science student Eden Saig, the system's creator, explains that in text and email messages, many of the non-verbal cues (like facial expression) that we use to interpret language are missing. His software applies semantic analysis to those online communications and tries to figure out their emotional import and context by looking for word patterns (not just more superficial markers like emoticons or explicit labels like "[sarcasm]"), and can theoretically identify clues of threatening or self-destructive behavior.
FTA: “Now, the system can recognise patterns that are either condescending or caring sentiments and can even send a text message to the user if the system thinks the post may be arrogant”
On the one hand, maybe it's a good idea to notify users that their comments will likely be interpreted by most readers as having 'X' emotional tone. On the other hand, it may result in people habitually self-censoring to the extent that they show no warning signs before they explode, (literally or figuratively), in some destructive action or activity.
I'm also thinking that this kind of ongoing **parentalistic monitoring is the wet dream of corporate overlords and wannabe dictators the world over.
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**A word I coined, not a spelling mistake...
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
On the heels of Google's "AI" that the WSJ claims got "testy" comes this claim of a "machine learning" system that can identify suicidal tendencies. Once again, BOGUS! The claim that machines learn anything is bogus to begin with, as to date no machine has ever done anything other than record information, as in so-called maze-learning programs. Learning is a cognitive process, and until we ourselves know how it works in humans (which we don't), we can never program a machine to learn anything.
But the real proof that this is bogus is that in order to "learn" to identify suicidal thoughts, even we humans would have to be given evidence that a given text actually came from someone as a result of their suicidal thinking. Which nobody can do, as this would require clairevoiance. Even the best psychiatric researchers can't know what someone was thinking when they composed a particular text.
AI is being dramatically overstated once more. What AI researcher has the guts to call them out on this?