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

Troll bait

[countach]

How long before this is trolled into oblivion?
How long before people sue Facebook for false positives and violating their privacy?

Re:Troll bait

[b0s0z0ku]

Hopefully, the lawsuits come soon and will be painful -- FB should be a communication tool and not snoop on the content of non-public (i.e. privacy set to anything but "public") communications.

Re: Troll bait

[Anonymous Coward]

If Facebook keeps doing this I'll kill myself

Re:Troll bait

[Ol Olsoc]

How long before this is trolled into oblivion? How long before people sue Facebook for false positives and violating their privacy?

Well, I won't post on Facebook what I've said here, that when my time draws close, I'm going to choose how and when I shift this mortal coil. I'm anything but suicidal, but have no intention of spending a decade or more in a nursing home, wearing depends and not having much idea of who I am.

This really transcends creepiness, and turned into intrusion.

Re: Troll bait

[Reverend Green]

What makes you think they aren't doing that already?

Re:Troll bait

[AmiMoJo]

Do you really think Facebook doesn't already scan private messages to build up your advertising profile and to look for banned content like child pornography?

I doubt lawsuits will get very far - an entirely computer generated notice along the lines of "if you feel suicidal, you can call XXX-XXX-XXX to talk to someone" is going to fail tests for invasion of privacy and not exactly play well with a jury that can see Facebook is trying to do the right thing.

If you want that level of privacy there are plenty of end-to-end encrypted channels.

Re: Troll bait

[Cryacin]

I can see this play out in the USA.

Guy is detected about to commit suicide. Police is sent.

Police first shoot guy's dog, then the guy.

Circle of life...

Re:Troll bait

[drinkypoo]

I doubt lawsuits will get very far - an entirely computer generated notice along the lines of "if you feel suicidal, you can call XXX-XXX-XXX to talk to someone" is going to fail tests for invasion of privacy

Sigh. Even TFS outright says "or contact local first-responders." Calling the cops on you because you might be suicidal is never the right thing to do, especially since there is a significant chance that the cops will just show up and murder you, even if people are standing by begging them not to.

and not exactly play well with a jury that can see Facebook is trying to do the right thing.

You mean "believe that" Facebook is trying to do the right thing, because they are not.

How about no?

[Frosty Piss]

There are going to be some serious privacy issues and a lot of false positives. If all goes according to plan, expect the cops to send a SWAT team to bust down someone's door and "accidentally" pump two dozen bullets into them...

Re:How about no?

[b0s0z0ku]

American cops and injustice system be like...

"We'll kill/incarcerate the fuck out of you to save you."

Remember, we're the country that locks up the most people for what they choose to take into their own bodies. We also used to lock up or kill people for their choice of partners -- wrong color was almost a capital offense in many parts of the country.

Don't underestimate the stupidity and brutality of the American criminal injustice system.

Re:How about no?

[geekmux]

There are going to be some serious privacy issues and a lot of false positives. If all goes according to plan, expect the cops to send a SWAT team to bust down someone's door and "accidentally" pump two dozen bullets into them...

Let's remember what S.W.A.T. stands for, in order to understand what justifies their presence.

An individual being flagged for suicidal thoughts does not qualify as a SWAT-level threat, nor would they have trained staff to properly handle it.

Re:How about no?

[arth1]

Some states had laws making suicide a felony, and some up until the 1990s. If you survived, you could theoretically go to jail for attempted murder of yourself.

I guess that by that logic, the police would be justified in shooting your murderer. You'd die anyhow, but the crime would be prevented.

Re:How about no?

[AmiMoJo]

Can anyone confirm that in the US the response to a potentially suicidal person is a SWAT team?!

In most places it's considered a medical emergency. If any law enforcement is involved it will only be to help medical personnel gain access to the patient. In this case the first response would probably be calling the phone number that the user supplied to Facebook.

Re:How about no?

[CrimsonAvenger]

Can anyone confirm that in the US the response to a potentially suicidal person is a SWAT team?!

No. That was what they call a "joke". In moderately bad taste....

Re:How about no?

[Kiuas]

There are going to be some serious privacy issues and a lot of false positives. If all goes according to plan, expect the cops to send a SWAT team to bust down someone's door and "accidentally" pump two dozen bullets into them

If the cops respond to a suspected suicidal person with a SWAT-team, then the AI reporting to them about a suicidal individual is the least of your problems.

They needed to do this

[Anonymous Coward]

They're just attempting to get ahead of things because they know damn well at some point someone is going to do some research and show how many suicides Facebook actually CAUSES. Legally, they can say they are taking all the reasonable measures possible to prevent it.

Re:How long before it's used maliciously?

[DontBeAMoran]

How super can this bowl really be if people keep losing it?

Just buy another one!

Does it actually work?

[alvinrod]

I was under the impression that people who are actually suicidal don't often post about it on Facebook. If you really want to kill yourself, bringing more attention to yourself isn't a good way to accomplish this. Don't get me wrong, the petty narcissists that try to get attention by acting suicidal clearly need help as well, but I don't think this will do much to deter those who are actually suicidal.

If Facebook really cared about the mental health and wellbeing of their users, they'd kick people off after more than fifteen minutes of daily use or just outright pull the plug on the whole works.

Re:Does it actually work?

[mark-t]

True, but most people who are suicdal do not genuinely want to die as much as they would rather want their living circumstances just to be different from whatever they are

Re:Does it actually work?

[mark-t]

Suicidally depressed people are convinced there is no way things can possibly get better, so even if you suggest a plausible better alternative it is immediately dismissed because the person is feeling so miserable and emotion robs reason.

Absolutely true... but my point is only that they would generally still prefer to live a life in better circumstances than to actually die, and genuinely unusual for someone to simply wish themselves to be dead as a preference to simply having a better life circumstance, however impossible it might be for them to imagine.

And given that, it is possible, although not necessarily certain, that a person who is suicidal and therefore generally just wants an improvement to their circumstance, but in absence of any hope that such a thing can be achieved, seek to end their existence as they currently experience it can be helped... that possibly, with such help, they can get past whatever has brought them to that point, and find a life that is actually worth living for.

As it was mentioned before, the people who do really want to kill themselves don't bother to tell anybody about it.. But as I said, this is not typical for people with seriously suicidal thoughts, which can often take several weeks or months to escalate to that point, and there are often outward indications that could be visible to people that are in that person's social circle and life if they knew what to look for.

Re: Does it actually work?

[Reverend Green]

FB exec: "Millions of our countrymen are being literally driven mad by capitalism. How can we profit from this?"

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.

Expectation vs Reality

[n329619]

Expectation:

Guy1: I've lost my job and my family in an accident on the same day. There's no hope anymore.

FB: Looks like you need some help! Go visit Save.org today!

Guy1: Thanks FB. It really helped.

Reality:

Guy2: Omg, this guy on the internet is so stupid. I am literally banging my head so hard that it's killing me.

FB: Looks like you need some help! Go visit Save.org today!

Guy2: Is this the part where I continue to bang my head?

FB: Looks like you need some help! Go visit Save.org today!

Guy2: Damn it. Stop spamming me. You're killing me.

FB: Looks like you need some help! Go visit Save.org today!

Person2: Arrrrrrugh!!! Do you want me dead or something?

FB: We booked you a schedule on Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Thank you for using FB newest AI chatbot technology. This chatbot is sponsored by Nice-Long-Rope, the best $1.99 rope to hang things from the ceiling.

What could possibly go wrong

[Solandri]

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

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.

Re: How long before it's used maliciously?

[Reverend Green]

We have become the Soviet Union.

Re: So now if I say I had a bad day at work...

[Reverend Green]

Maybe Facebook is worried that Reddit has the lead in the potentially lucrative Stasi collaboration market.

Re:THIS.

[Kiuas]

Seriously, get the fuck off of ANY non-face-to-face human interaction every once in a while.

The problem with social media (not just FB) and depression is not that people do nothing but stare at FB and get depressed. The problem (or, one of them) is that if you're already depressed, viewing social media can make it worse. Why? Well, because people like to present their best side on social media; people's profiles are by and large advertisements of themselves. People post about their holidays, trips, happy times with friends and family, If you're someone who feels shitty about your life, browsing the feed can make these feelings even worse because it seems to highlight to you how much better everyone else is doing and hence how much of a 'failure' you are because you don't have these kinds of situations.

So yeah, staying out of FB can be a good thing during depression, but it carries the downside of isolating one even more from one's social circle. For me and you it's easy to call up a friend and go grab a beer or a coffee out in the real world, but for a depressed person who might have trouble just getting out of bed this can be a monumental task, so just telling these people to log out of FB and go out is not exactly a miracle solution.

What FB could do if they get this working is change the feed of depressed people slightly. I mean, they already embed ads into the feed, so for these individuals embedding information and resources about getting help as well as possible articles/videos about how to deal with depression while also simulatenously toning down the amount of other people's 'look at my awesome day out on a date with my girlfriend' -posts would likely be a good thing.