Wimbledon Employs AI To Protect Players From Online Abuse 19
An anonymous reader writes: The All England Lawn Tennis Club is using AI for the first time to protect players at Wimbledon from online abuse. An AI-driven service monitors players' public-facing social media profiles and automatically flags death threats, racism and sexist comments in 35 different languages. High-profile players who have been targeted online such as the former US Open champion Emma Raducanu and the four-time grand slam winner Naomi Osaka have previously spoken out about having to delete Instagram and Twitter, now called X, from their phones. Harriet Dart, the British No 2, has said she only uses social media from time to time because of online "hate."
Speaking on Thursday after her triumph against Katie Boulter, the British No 1, Dart said: "I just think there's a lot of positives for it [social media] but also a lot of negatives. I'm sure today, if I open one of my apps, regardless if I won, I'd have a lot of hate as well." Jamie Baker, the tournament's director, said Wimbledon had introduced the social media monitoring service Threat Matrix. The system, developed by the AI company Signify Group, will also be rolled out at the US Open. [...] He said the AI-driven service was supported by people monitoring the accounts. Players can opt in for a fuller service that scans abuse or threats via private direct messaging. Baker, a former British No 2, said Wimbledon would consult the players about the abuse before reporting it to tech companies for removal or to the police if deemed necessary.
Speaking on Thursday after her triumph against Katie Boulter, the British No 1, Dart said: "I just think there's a lot of positives for it [social media] but also a lot of negatives. I'm sure today, if I open one of my apps, regardless if I won, I'd have a lot of hate as well." Jamie Baker, the tournament's director, said Wimbledon had introduced the social media monitoring service Threat Matrix. The system, developed by the AI company Signify Group, will also be rolled out at the US Open. [...] He said the AI-driven service was supported by people monitoring the accounts. Players can opt in for a fuller service that scans abuse or threats via private direct messaging. Baker, a former British No 2, said Wimbledon would consult the players about the abuse before reporting it to tech companies for removal or to the police if deemed necessary.
Wrong strategy (Score:1)
Before the media bias starts.... (Score:3)
Helping to re-frame this before it gets the usual media bias...
Remembering that women make half or more of the misogynistic tweets aimed at other women
Twitter abuse - '50% of misogynistic tweets from women'
https://www.bbc.com/news/techn... [bbc.com]
Half of misogynistic tweets sent by women, study finds
https://www.theguardian.com/te... [theguardian.com]
Mean girls: Half of misogynistic tweets are sent by women, study shows
https://globalnews.ca/news/272... [globalnews.ca]
80% of women’s body-negative tweets are about themselves
https://cosmeticsbusi [cosmeticsbusiness.com]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
People should have thicker skins, especially in sports. Sport is intended to be competitive, and during competition both the competitors and their fans get worked up. Some will invariably say stupid things, just ignore them.
People with opinions get hate too. I would suggest two things. If these women are getting death threats, Law enforcement should work to find whoever it is, and arrest them.
Second thing. Growing a thicker skin, or even getting a pre-reader to go over posts that will be bothersome. If AI is doing that proficiently, and a person doesn't want to see disagreement, it might actually be a decent thing.
Might be because I've been on the Intertoobz for a long time, but I get a kick out people driven to rage ove
Re:Thick skins.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Sport is intended to be competitive, and during competition both the competitors and their fans get worked up.
I'm sorry but go fuck yourself in the most painful possible way for equating professional competition with okaying death threats. Is this what the world has come to? That pieces of shit like you think this vile behaviour is okay? If you think this kind of thing is okay and that people should just get thick skins, get some therapy.
Re: Thick skins.. (Score:2)
I think death threats are so common now that it's basically the internet's version of saying "hey fuck you buddy!"
Re: (Score:2)
Oh I see, that makes it okay and just means we should accept it. Gotchya. /s
Re: Thick skins.. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
If someone is actually serious about committing a murder they're not going to shout about it online and attract attention - that will massively increase the chances of them being stopped and/or caught.
Online threats are just people venting bullshit and trying to grab attention, like a kid throwing a tantrum.
If you prevent people from venting and expressing their anger, that doesn't magically stop them from being angry - it only makes them more angry. By reacting to it and trying to stop it, you are fermenti
Re: (Score:2)
I think you way over estimate people's intelligence. People venting in an uncontrolled environment indeed gets them even more worked up. Mobbing is very real. These are far from independent individuals. Social media particularly glues the mobs together.
And the phrase "Give an angry man a gun and he'll use it" comes to mind here.
Re: (Score:2)
Sports competitions are about sporting ability, not the ability to withstand online trolling. Particularly at this level, there is already a lot of mental pressure on the players anyway. Even people who claim not to care experience some cognitive and emotional load from being trolled.
Really? (Score:2)
'An AI-driven service monitors players' public-facing social media profiles and automatically flags death threats, racism and sexist comments in 35 different languages. '
Then there's nothing left these days.
So basically we're going to use AI to (Score:1)
Violate the terms of service, of every website we visit, and also control what people are shown when there's looking up our players.
Good to know.
GIF, by John Gabriel (Score:1)
No-one's mentioned the Greater Internet Fuckwad theory: That distance (and the presumed anonymity it provides) makes many people more abusive.
It's become standard to cyber-stalk and harass public figures who disagree with one's own expectations. The 'patriot' mentality (Really, a simplistic "I'm correct and everyone else loses all human rights" attitude.) has descended into sports and the arts.