Bots that can detect online harassment are being developed

Image: JBSA

Online harassment or Internet trolling, as it is best known, has been a major problem many Internet users experience. For those of you who don't know what trolling means, trolling is when a person or group of people go to a website such as a forum and leaves a comment to purposely provoke others to respond. Trolls are lonely and jealous people who intentionally pick fights just to get attention.

Anyone can be a victim of online trolling. It is pretty sad that trolling is not prosecuted. To combat this issue of online trolling, Artificial Intelligence programmers and tech companies are now developing bots that can detect online bullying and sexual harassment. Tech experts say the bots are being designed to enable emails and chats to be monitored and have inappropriate contents automatically sent to a lawyer or HR manager to investigate.

Chicago-based NexLP, one of the companies that has employed the use of this software, stated that the programme is already being used by 50 corporate clients in the United Stated and by law firms in London.

Some tech experts question the effectiveness because such software can have restrictions before it can flag inappropriate contents, and this is due to the fact that AI can only look for certain triggers and cannot pick up on broader cultural or unique interpersonal dynamics.

This programme is actually named after the infamous #MeToo movement against the sexual harassment of women that started after Hollywood superstar Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment.

This is really a great invention and news to start 2020 with. I can't wait for this to be actively used in Nigeria, considering the fact that sexual harassment and online trolling is on the rise.