It is how to "cook the books" on the cost in blood of "social network". Teenage girls with gross depression are committing suicide at like 60% higher rate when they are active on social media. Facebook is absolutely a contributor there, and in order to disguise its actual complicity, its being a root-cause, it is now searching for clear signal of likelihood of suicide, with an attempt to ... what. What is their follow-up action? Inform a parent or legal authority? No way. That makes them culpable. They aren't going to "help". They are going to hide. They are going to destroy chains of evidence in on the "wall" or "messages" that point a clear finger at the paradigm as the problem.
Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
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Re: Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
#32There's a lot of people who are fearful that Facebook probably knows too much about its users and that could be problematic. But what do you expect? How do you want our future to be shaped? Innovation, including AI, requires tremendous amount of data. Suicide is a serious problem and being able to accurately identify that in the future could save tons of lives. Accurately diagnosing mental illnesses will take a while for sure, and I believe this is a necessary first step.
Now, if Facebook is selling the data for profit, that's another story. But if we assume that Facebook is acting purely for the benefit of the society and the people, I think this is a great step.
Re: Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
#33This may or may not be a useful technology, but the fact that Facebook thinks they have the ability and the right to diagnose their users with mental illnesses is disturbing. They have more information about their users than psychologists have about their patients. They can (and do) build a psychological profile and diagnose mental illness. Yet rather than keeping this information in the closest confidence, they sell…
I'm sure advertisers of pharmaceutical companies can't wait to take advantage of this in their ad placement strategies.
Re: Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
#34Given the track record of social interventions, what if this backfires?
Re: Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
#35Devils advocate here, why must we prevent suicide?
if you're eager to separate the idea from the sanctity of life (or whatever), you can just throw this into the huge bucket of things we do as a society to dissuade behavior with significant negative externalities. and suicide does come with a lot of negative externalities
Re: Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
#36Dead men buy no products.
I know this is horribly cynical, but dead man's friends will probably be highly engaged with the platform afterward. Facebook will find a way to monetize it.
Re: Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
#37Devils advocate here, why must we prevent suicide?
Because individual people have inherent worth, and society is built on that assumption. People with suicidal thoughts often just need a good friend.
Re: Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
#38Re: Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
#39Devils advocate here, why must we prevent suicide?
if you're eager to separate the idea from the sanctity of life (or whatever), you can just throw this into the huge bucket of things we do as a society to dissuade behavior with significant negative externalities. and suicide does come with a lot of negative externalities
Nice try. All of said negative externalities are also tied (directly or indirectly) to the sanctity or value of human life.
Re: Facebook deploys AI for early signs of suicide
#40Do folks on HN actually think this is the only psychological metric Facebook is tracking, and that this is something new? A slightly obsessive, insecure state of mind makes for the most engaged Facebook user. If they can give people a bit of a nudge in that direction, it’s great for business. Suicide, while resulting in increased engagement among friends and relatives, is bad for business overall — you’re losing user…
In general, I agree with you. That said, from the perspective of an actually dead teenager, where their friends turn in evidence that, in retrospect, maybe they were having a hard time, it's hard not to want something like this.