Can AI moderators keep the peace where humans have failed?

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down n out: Sep 16, 2008; Nap Ghost

https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/21/candid-the-anonymous-chat-app-enforces-civility-with-ai/

quote:

Developed by a pair of former Google project leads, Candid (the company) has developed a natural language processing system that analyzes every piece of posted content and flags inflammatory items for removal -- things like hate speech, threats and slander. Off-topic posts are moved to more appropriate sections, so you won't have to dig through political discussions to read about NASA's mission to Mars.

All personally identifiable data -- including IP address, precise location data and Facebook contacts -- are encrypted with a one-way hash before they reach the company's servers. That hash cannot be decrypted by Candid -- or anyone else, for that matter. What's more, closing or abandoning an account permanently deletes all that encrypted data from Candid's servers.

Oddly, though, the app also requires users to provide their phone number during the initial account setup. The app even sends a two-step authentication code to confirm that the number is real. That data are encrypted like everything else Candid collects but it feels strange and out-of-place to request that right off the bat, especially from an app that sells itself on anonymity.

Once you get through the initial setup, Candid offers a number of mechanisms to maintain the user's privacy. For example, the app applies a new, continually randomized username like "Curious Rabbit" or "Creative Lemur" to every new post. The app also gently coerces users to be polite by awarding various badges like "Explorer," "Giver" or "Gossip" for positive posts, but will slap a "Hater" tag on people who are consistently negative.

This process, according to Candid's PR team, is entirely automated. A "lot of factors contribute to getting the hater badge," a rep told me, "including the number of negative comments and posts based on sentiment analysis, number of down votes a user gets and the number of posts from the user that were taken down. Posts that are taken down by the system are reviewed by a human."

Additionally, Candid has a system in place to first identify potentially unsubstantiated rumors through its algorithmic AI, which are then verified by a person using web and Twitter results. Any rumors deemed to be false are quickly removed, while true statements -- such as news leaks -- remain. Similarly, if the system sees that a poster is threatening self-harm, it will issue a push notification to him or her with the number for a local crisis helpline.

quote:

On how automated moderation works

The way other artificial intelligence works, is it basically parses your sentence. We use a deep learning NLP algorithm, which basically looks at what you're saying and decides ... whether it's positive or negative. So it kind of classifies things as having a negative sentiment or a positive sentiment.

It then gives it a score of how kind of strong your statement is � let's say you said something about someone or you threatened someone, it classifies that as saying, "Hey this is a very strong statement," because these kinds of categories are not good in terms of social discourse. And when we do that, we basically say if this thing has a score which is more than a particular level, a cut-off, then we basically take out the whole post. So whether it's self harm or like bullying or harassment, we look for certain phrases and the context of those phrases.

Instead of letting a community moderate itself with reporting functions and rapid-fire burns from funny posters, we want to trust in robot minders to categorize our ideas and keep our contributions friendly and inclusive. While I'm sure it's pretty easy to wipe out a gem like "die in a well ahole," I wonder how more complex forms of posting like sarcasm and irony would be handled. I don't like that they will have a voting system for individual contributions because it encourages hollow and disingenuous platitudes with all unfavorable opinions being scrubbed. I also am doubtful that this will be 100% AI with no human steering. Is this Safe Space: The App?

# ? Aug 2, 2016 16:29

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# ? May 6, 2024 02:06

dad gay. so what: Feb 18, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

sounds like a job for dimok buschoff

# ? Aug 2, 2016 16:30

a hole-y ghost: May 10, 2010

lowtax should get the creepy robot from the other thread as a moderator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYzOZQDsm5w

# ? Aug 2, 2016 16:31

Iron Prince: Aug 28, 2005; Buglord

dad gay. so what posted:

sounds like a job for dimok buschoff

# ? Aug 2, 2016 16:31

a hole-y ghost: May 10, 2010

Will the AI be able to distinguish between ironic and non ironic racism??

# ? Aug 2, 2016 16:34

Fat-Lip-Sum-41.mp3: Nov 15, 2003

Make Tay a mod

# ? Aug 2, 2016 16:41

down n out: Sep 16, 2008; Nap Ghost

I am also in favor of letting rockafire explosion mod nmd

# ? Aug 2, 2016 17:05

FedEx Mercury: Jan 7, 2004; Me bad posting? That's unpossible!; Lipstick Apathy

This seems like it would lead to the worst kind of safe space hugbox that stifles any interesting or dissenting opinions.

# ? Aug 2, 2016 17:07

big nipples big life: May 12, 2014

notZaar posted:

This seems like it would lead to the worst kind of safe space hugbox that stifles any interesting or dissenting opinions.

It's like some kind of super-reddit

# ? Aug 2, 2016 17:19

a shiny rock: Nov 13, 2009

how would this be any different from ralp

# ? Aug 2, 2016 17:20

med school head: Apr 17, 2012

thought this was about the car forum

# ? Aug 2, 2016 17:44

Moon Atari: Dec 26, 2010

Hmmm, the app uses the same randomised naming scheme as the diamond dogs, but if anything metal gear taught me to fear AI. I'm really not sure how to feel about this.

# ? Aug 2, 2016 17:56

fabergay egg: Mar 1, 2012; it's not a rhetorical question, for politely saying 'you are an idiot, you don't know what you are talking about'

irony will be the last line of defense against the robot insurrection. our only hope, is gbs

# ? Aug 2, 2016 18:02

psychokitty: Jun 29, 2010; =9.9=
MEOW
BITCHES

dad gay. so what posted:

sounds like a job for dimok buschoff

CHALUPA PLEASE

# ? Aug 2, 2016 18:17

Chinatown: Sep 11, 2001; by Fluffdaddy; Fun Shoe

*clown image variation*

# ? Aug 2, 2016 18:18

Stinky_Pete: Aug 16, 2015; Stinkier than your average bear; Lipstick Apathy

It will be almost as successful as Voat, I imagine

# ? Aug 2, 2016 18:18

Fuck da Mods: Jun 27, 2013; fina get poz'd?

Mod this

# ? Aug 2, 2016 18:18

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

the ai mod probates people for posting lol and nothing else in the chat threads

# ? Aug 2, 2016 18:21

Uncle Wemus: Mar 4, 2004

The whole appeal of moderators is that they are heavily flawed human beings given a molecule of power.

Who wants a mod thats not a depressed, petty alcoholic sadsack?

# ? Aug 2, 2016 18:31