Facebook's AI Is Learning to Predict and Prevent Suicide

For years, Facebook has been investing in artificial intelligence fields like machine learning and deep neural nets to build its core business--selling you things better than anyone else in the world. But earlier this month, the company began turning some of those AI tools to a more noble goal: stopping people from taking their own lives. But it's not just tech giants like Facebook, Instagram, and China's up-and-coming video platform Live.me who are devoting R&D to flagging self-harm. Doctors at research hospitals and even the US Department of Veterans Affairs are piloting new, AI-driven suicide-prevention platforms that capture more data than ever before. The goal: build predictive models to tailor interventions earlier.