AI opens new frontier for suicide prevention

In the early hours of the morning, a distraught teen posts on social media about wanting to hurt herself. Her friends and family are sleeping, but an algorithm answers, providing links to 24/7 help. Artificial intelligence already sorts what you see on social media, but increasingly, it's being harnessed to monitor and respond to mental health crises. Canada is at the cutting edge of the development. The federal government recently tapped an Ottawa-based AI company to screen social media posts for warning signs of suicide.