GoGuardian Beacon, an AI system that detects students' suicidal thoughts and notifies teachers and parents
A reporting system called ' Beacon ' has been introduced in American schools to detect students who are overwhelmed and thinking about suicide early on and allow measures to be taken.
Introducing GoGuardian Beacon. | GoGuardian
School internet filter maker launches suicide risk detector
https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/26/goguardian-beacon-suicide-prevention-filter-schools/#/
Beacon is a system that uses AI to detect signs of suicide based on students' online activity. It was developed by GoGuardian, a company that develops and provides internet filtering software for schools and Chromebooks. The system has already been implemented in over 4,000 school districts across the United States, serving 5.3 million students.
Beacon is installed on each school's computers, and its AI monitors students' internet browsing activity to detect early signs of suicide. Based on each student's browsing activity, Beacon classifies their suicide-related behavior into four categories: 'General suicide research,' 'general suicide ideation,' 'help and support,' and 'self harm and active planning.'
This classification is made by AI, so for example, if you search for 'how to tie a rope' online, it will be classified as an 'active plan,' while a search for 'annual suicide trends' will be classified as a 'general suicide search.'
The system classifies student activity and can be configured to notify teachers and school counselors if a student is deemed to be in a dangerous situation. It also allows for the system to record individual student information and responses.
Additionally, depending on the settings, parents or guardians can be automatically notified.
According to GoGuardian CEO Advait Shinde, Beacon has been in testing for the past year and has detected 2,000 suicide attempts per week, and in some cases, the system has prevented students from committing suicide when schools and parents took action.
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