Facebook rolls out new AI feature to detect suicidal posts

Social media giant Facebook has rolled out a new feature which will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect suicidal posts before they are reported.

According to TechCrunch.com, Facebook's new "proactive detection" artificial intelligence technology will scan user posts for patterns of suicidal thoughts, and also send mental health resources to the user at risk, if necessary.

Earlier, Facebook had tested AI to detect troubling posts and more prominently surface suicide reporting options to friends in the United States.

The social media giant is now set to scour all types of content around the world with this AI, except in the European Union (EU), where the General Data Protection Regulation privacy laws on profiling users based on sensitive information complicate the use of this feature.

"In the future, AI will be able to understand more of the subtle nuances of language, and will be able to identify different issues beyond suicide as well, including quickly spotting more kinds of bullying and hate," wrote co-founder and CEO, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg.

"This is about shaving off minutes at every single step of the process, especially in Facebook Live," said VP, product management, Guy Rosen.

By using AI to flag worrisome posts to human moderators instead of waiting for user reports, Facebook will certainly help decrease how long it takes to send help to those in need.