Facebook Rolls Out AI To Detect Suicidal Posts Before They're Reported (techcrunch.com)

Facebook is rolling out "proactive detection" artificial intelligence technology that will scan all posts on the site for patterns of suicidal thoughts, and when necessary send mental health resources to the user at risk or their friends, or contact local first-responders. The goal is to use AI to decrease how long it takes to send help to those in need. TechCrunch reports: Facebook previously tested using AI to detect troubling posts and more prominently surface suicide reporting options to friends in the U.S. Now Facebook is will scour all types of content around the world with this AI, except in the European Union, where General Data Protection Regulation privacy laws on profiling users based on sensitive information complicate the use of this tech. Facebook also will use AI to prioritize particularly risky or urgent user reports so they're more quickly addressed by moderators, and tools to instantly surface local language resources and first-responder contact info. It's also dedicating more moderators to suicide prevention, training them to deal with the cases 24/7, and now has 80 local partners like Save.org, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Forefront from which to provide resources to at-risk users and their networks.

Comments

The synopsis says it will notify your FRIENDS?!

[Anonymous Coward]

I sincerely hope that the synopsis is incorrect, because it would be a massive violation of privacy if facebook just starts notifying random people in your social network that you've authoried a suicidal post - especially if, as it sounds like, they are looking at the content of posts that haven't even been submitted yet. Most depressed folks I know have enough suicidal episodes to have experienced writing a suicide note or three but end up using the writing of the note to work through the issue at hand and come back down enough to get over the worst of it or seek help on their own. I'd be enormously upset to discover that working my way through an episode like that resulted in some public announcement of my mental state by facebook. Granted, I'd never write such a thing in a text box on a live website, simply to avoid accidentally submitting or reloading, never mind snooping on unposting content by the site's owner, but others might be careless enough to get caught out.

Re:What could possibly go wrong

[drinkypoo]

"Man commits suicide after becoming depressed that Facebook flagged his regular posts as suicidal."

Man commits suicide after Facebook ruins his life by referring him to a state-sponsored mental health care system that thrives primarily on overprescription. But if Facebook wants more fake-ass posts that don't tell how people are really thinking, I guess this is one way to get them. I know that I will now fear Facebook referring me to some legal organization for "help", and adjust my posts accordingly.