Artificial Intelligence Saves Lives. 700 Suicides Were Prevented in China

by Martin Scotch

The Free University of Amsterdam developed an algorithm that detects depressive messages in the Chinese social network Weibo.

Senior researcher of artificial intelligence Huang Zhisheng said to BBC:

If you hesitate for a second, a lot of life will be lost.

Thanks to his efforts, there was created a rescue team Tree Hole, where volunteers are notified with a worrisome message from the platform, and they contact the user to prevent a fatal mistake and help a person.

The algorithm evaluates published posts by a 10-point grade, and if the AI estimates the mood of the text above six, it urgently calls the volunteers' team.

As BBC conveys, some potential suicides were managed to prevent remotely, but some volunteers even personally stave off a person from committing a tragedy at split seconds.

The program under this algorithm has been working for 18 months, and during this time Tree Hole rescuers averted about 700 suicides in the Celestial Empire.

Facebook uses a similar algorithm - it analyzes text messages as well as Facebook Live broadcasts. If the suicidal signs were found, the system locates the frustrated user and sends emergency services to help.

You could've noticed that some text or translation services like Grammarly can also define the emotional disposition of the narration.

Take care!