Sustainable Finance Newsletter - Robot overlords to track your flirting
By Ross Kerber
July 3 (Reuters) -Online gaming got us used to seeing videos shown from the first-person point of view and gave rise to the graphic technologies that have come topower many Hollywood blockbusters.
Now thegaming world looks set to spread another norm: monitoring audio conversations for offensive language, bullying and other negative content.
I can think of various fascinating and chilling scenarios for applying the tech but mostly I wanted to lay out what I heard from the provider of a war game's audio moderation software and how it could be on its way to whichever dating app you use.
There ismore in this week's main story below. I've also got links to my report on AI at last week's Morningstar investor conference in Chicago, and a colleague's review of how a court ruling has chilled interest in diversity-focused venture funds.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn. If you have a news tip, potential content, or general thoughts you can email me at ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com
Robot overlords to track your flirting
Artificial intelligence systems could soon be monitoring the audio of your online dating chats, remote educational classes and other situations, according to the head of a company that has already made a business of policing gamers' conversations.
"As a prediction of the industry, expect to see more sophisticated moderation in many places," Mike Pappas, chief executive of Modulate, told me in a recent interview. When its software detects a violation of a company's code of conduct during a live conversation, it flags the episode for further review that could lead to a warning or an account suspension.
Talking to Pappas and others involved in the growing industry of monitoring online chats provided a fascinating look at how technology can shape human behavior for good or ill. Networks make it ever-easier to interact with people we haven't met in person, meaning fewer social norms exist to keep things polite.
One predictable downside is that 22% of Americans experienced "severe harassment" on social media during the past 12 months, according to a survey taken earlier this yearby the ADL Center for Technology & Society found, up from 18% a year earlier.
This poses risks for social media providers, which can be held liable for things like violating prohibitions on chat capabilities for children.
Privately held Modulate, based near Boston, supplies its "ToxMod" software to Activision's Call of Duty online war game for enforcing its Code of Conduct. Activision, owned by Microsoft,MSFT.O says it took action on more than 2 million accounts for "disruptive voice chat" during a period starting last August, and that it saw an 8% reduction of repeat offenders and a 50% drop in player exposure to the most severelanguage after it started moderating the voice chats.
That's good business, since toxic language or bullying can put off users. Beyond the gaming industry, Pappas said he's gotten interest from dating apps, call center operators, online education platforms and other organizations where strangers converse, though he declined to name potential partners.
Pappas said he's wary of some of the software's theoretical capabilities. He wouldn't build software that flagsconversations about geopolitics, for instance and he said ToxMod doesn't record everything and includes privacy safeguards. He also said that what counts as "misinformation" raises thorny questions. But the majority of the cases that ToxMod flags involve simple threatening, sexist or racist speech.
The sensitivity of the software can be adjusted, he added, and gave this analogy: "When you're in the playground, you keep it kid-friendly. You go to a sports bar, you're allowed to be a little rowdy," Pappas said.
Lewis Ward, gaming research director for IDC, said he expects to see AI audio monitoring spread beyond gaming, such as for music or sports conversations that social platforms stage amongstrangers. Just as in gaming, sponsors will want to discourage bad behavior lest they face fines or hits to their reputations.
"If people start flaming each other and you're the official moderator for that community, will you have some liability? That's a legal gray zone," Ward said.
Company News
American Airlines AAL.O will buy 100 hydrogen-electric engines from aviation startup ZeroAvia. The engines have the potential for close to zero carbon emissions while in flight, and theyuse hydrogen in fuel cellsto power electric motors. American is buying jet engines for regional jet aircraft, and ZeroAvia also makes turboprop engines.
BP's BP.L new CEO Murray Auchincloss has imposed a hiring freeze and paused new offshore wind projects as he places a renewed emphasis on oil and gas amid investor discontent over its energy transition strategy, sources at the company said.
Legal & General's LGEN.L investment management arm will sell its stake in global commodities trader Glencore GLEN.L this year on concerns over its production of thermal coal.
On my radar
Executives and investors I spoke with at last week'sMorningstar MORN.O Investment Conferencein Chicago said the spread of AI software and systems offers big opportunities for financial services firms, but the sensitivity of the consumer data they handle means companies should tread with care.
A U.S. appeals court ruling that blocked a Black-owned venture capitalist from funding women-of-color-led businesses has had a chilling effect across the small industry of diversity-focused venture capital funds, according to founders, investors and lawyers who spoke to my colleague Krystal Hu.
Amazon.com AMZN.O is backing a new standard for verifying carbon offsets, sidestepping a global standard developed by a non-profit funded largely by the U.S. technology conglomerate's founder Jeff Bezos, my colleague Virginia Furness reports. Critics worry the move could lead to market confusion and compromise in the standards for carbon offsets.
Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio
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