AI reports sexual violence and discrimination and predicts future violence more efficiently than humans. Many people now can rely on technology to help them out in dangerous situations and to make the reach out easier for the victims. But what does this new achievement say about us, humans?
Robots are not our enemies
Research of the year 2020 has revealed that Artificial Intelligence can be indeed better at certain jobs than humans. No, I am not talking about chess or playing the piano. A study by the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) showed that one out of ten victims of domestic abuse, who informed the police, called again within a year about a repeat violent attack. Usually, police officers use a standardized set of questions to predict and prevent future domestic violence incidents after a call was received. However, the coauthor and research economist Dr. Ria Ivandić of CEP stated: “We find that machine-learning systems that analyze existing information, including criminal records, calls made to the police, and reported incidents of violence, can identify the risk of repeat incidents more accurately than current standardized questionnaires used by police forces’’ (source: here ).
The psychologist and bestselling author Dr. Julia Shaw saw the potential of AI technology as a protector as well. In 2017, she founded the Start-up SPOT, which fights with the help of AI against discrimination in the economy. SPOT is a cognitive Chatbot that allows employees to report cases of sexual harassment and discrimination at the workplace without having to reach out to a foreign person. The user then is to decide whether the report should go out to the chef or not. This is wonderful because it allows people who are afraid of judgment, who are afraid of being rejected or not taken seriously to be anonymous and have an objective conversation partner. All that is fine but one thing is worryingly striking to me here.
Is it that we humans partly trust robots more than other humans? Is it that logic and math have more good to offer to people than empathy could? Why do some people need to talk to a freaking bot to tell anybody about their discrimination experiences and possible trauma? Has society become so cruel and judgmental that we trust no one anymore? It keeps me wondering how many cases of domestic abuse are just getting unnoticed.
According to statistics, more than 10 million people in the US experience physical abuse by an intimate partner, 20 people per minute are being abused. ‘’1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner contact sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking with impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, use of victim services, contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, etc.’’(source: here).
Now, if that is not shocking enough, then imagine all the people that don’t call the police again because they have lost faith in them. Imagine all the women that are continuously sexually harassed at work and don’t report that because they are not taken seriously. As much as I am happy that AI developers found a way to better the situation, we shouldn’t have to rely on AI for such issues. Maybe we should all pay more attention to what happens around us and stop judging people for no reason. Then maybe at last the world could be a better place with and without our robot friends.
My name is Yildiz and I want to thank you for reading till the closing. If you enjoyed it, please clap to recognize the effort!
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Physicist, philosopher, feminist, entrepreneur. Education& Career, science & Futurism, pursuing truth, and pieces of advice⭐ contact: yildiz.culcu@gmx.de
References:
Disclaimer: two of these sources are in German. Use Google translate, if needed, the translation should be ok.
Die Webseite von Dr. Julia Shaw
Julia Shaw erforscht die größte sexuelle Minderheit – Menschen mit bisexueller Identität. Sie macht Bisexualität in…
Artificial intelligence could help protect victims of domestic violence
Machine-learning methods are far more effective at assessing which victims of domestic violence are most at risk than…
Die Webseite von Dr. Julia Shaw
Spot ist ein kognitiver Chatbot, der es Menschen ermöglicht, anonym über sexuelle Belästigung und Diskriminierung am…
NCADV | National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
NCADV is the voice of victims and survivors. We are the catalyst for changing society to have zero tolerance for…
Read my other stories:
How hard is a physics major? An experience | by Yildiz Culcu | Aug, 2022 | Medium
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