To train Perspective, Jigsaw pointed it at hundreds of thousands of comments that were identified as toxic by human reviewers. From there, the machine learning software would look at other comments and score them based on similarities. As with all machine learning systems, Perspective gets smarter and more accurate each time it finds new examples of toxic comments and every time humans guide it and correct things that it may mis-identify. Jigsaw hasn't just been testing and training Perspective in its own labs -- the company says it has partnered with The New York Times to test it. Currently, the NYT has moderators who review every single comment before it is posted; that team has to review about 11,000 comments every day.

If you've spent any time at all on the internet, you know that finding civil conversation can be a real challenge. Whether on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or your favorite news site, trolls can often dominate and derail the conversation. Today, Alphabet company Jigsaw has announced that it is using its machine learning chops to combat the problem. Perspective, which launches today, is an "early-stage" technology using machine learning to identify "toxic" comments. Furthermore, publishers will have access to an API to include this technology on their sites in the hopes that it'll lead to better conversations.