Categories: Technology

This Is Why Technology Can Not Filter Violent Videos

Every day we’re faced with problems, whether they’re psychological or physical. It may be that we have financial issues from being unemployed to having to deal with a breakup of our love life. Life is a minefield, and each day is a challenge within itself, but there is hope for dealing with the stress of everyday life. In all this stress the last thing you want to be exposed to is violent videos streamed on your social media feed.

Amidst all such preoccupations, you will open your Facebook news feed, and what you will see are violent videos being passed on from of your friends to another, which keeps such videos on your news feed all day and all night. What if, while figuring out your personal problems, the video you happen to watch is a suicide video? What if you see the latest videos on the murder of an old man who is Robert Godwin Sr?

The Case of Robert Godwin Sr.

Recently, there was a violent video that went viral on Facebook, and it was horrific. The video is about the murder of an old man named Robert Godwin Sr. This video was recorded by the murderer himself.

One day, on a street in Cleveland, Ohio, there was a man who was looking for someone to murder. He happened to choose the 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. The man approached Godwin and forced the old man to name the man’s ex-girlfriend.

Godwin was also forced to tell the camera that the reason he would die is the woman who broke his heart. Then, the man shot Godwin in front of the camera.

The video instantly went viral, but it was taken down by Facebook two hours after it was reported. The sad part is that it was reported when it had already gone viral. This means there had already been a lot of people who were able to view the video, including children.

Can Facebook Filter Violent Videos Using AI?

There is no question that violent videos can influence people to become violent, too. Even before the existence of the internet, violence on television was already being censored. On mass media, there is a way to filter some videos, but on social media, anyone can upload a video any time of the day without being censored.

This is why many people complained and asked Facebook to find a way to use a modern technology to filter violent videos. [pullquote]Although asking Facebook to filter violent videos is a request is fair and noble, asking Facebook to use AI to filter violent videos isn’t possible.[/pullquote]

As an example, most people would agree that if you go into credit card debt, it’s a smart thing to do to consolidate credit cards into one payment. This is a simple decision from the western viewpoint as we should repay our debts. However, in other cultures and countries interest on debt may not be tolerated because of religious beliefs. The point here is that AI cannot differentiate between the two cultures.

Moreover, artificial intelligence is still not capable of differentiating a photo of a breastfeeding mother to a pornographic photo. It will take time before we can see an AI technology can define what the difference is culturally along with principles of morals that have been accepted between cultures.

Conclusion

Technology can’t filter violent videos online because it’s not capable making a decision, which only a human being can do. AI is not yet capable of deciding which violent videos are bad and which ones are useful.