Jigsaw

Today wrapped up the last day of TrustCon, a convening of great trust and safety minds, and day 3 of the conference was a busy day! Using Altitude as a case study, researchers from Google and Jigsaw shared insights from interviews with platform moderators and civil society that informed the development of Altitude. And Tech Against Terrorism Director Adam Hadley discussed moderating “borderline” terrorist content in the age of AI. Platforms can join the Tech Against Terrorism network to receive free, individualized Altitude onboarding support including guided installation, testing, and feedback, as well as access to a suite of specialist services for members. As Tech Against Terrorism continues this important work, we’re excited to see how users take Altitude and apply it to their varying moderation needs on their own platforms. https://lnkd.in/eU3RPUnc

Terrorist and violent extremist groups are increasingly targeting smaller platforms to spread ideologically aligned content. Identifying and removing this content has become a major challenge for smaller, niche services. Enter Altitude: an open-source tool developed by Jigsaw and Tech Against Terrorism in partnership with The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), empowering platforms with advanced moderation capabilities. Altitude, the only free, open-source, self-hosted tool to give online platforms a single elevated view of potential terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC), helps moderators make informed and timely content moderation decisions on their sites. We are thrilled to support Tech Against Terrorism as it takes on the maintenance and expansion of Altitude! We’ll be diving into the development of Altitude at this year’s TrustCon – check back for updates! https://lnkd.in/e_krQk8j

Applications are now open for the Google.org Impact Challenge: Strengthening Democracy in Europe, a €15M open call aimed at helping European nonprofits, civic entities, academic institutions, and social enterprises dedicated to protecting and enhancing democratic values through innovative technology. We’re looking for bold ideas that: 👉 Protect election integrity: strengthen cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, combat disinformation, and build cyber resilience.  👉 Support voter education: develop digital literacy programs, make civic information more accessible, and empower voters to participate actively. 👉 Strengthen civic dialogue: foster inclusive conversations, promote community building, and utilize technology to encourage informed decision-making. We believe democracy and civic dialogue have always sustained cooperation and innovation, and we’re excited to see technology supporting a more inclusive, resilient, and vibrant discourse online. Learn more and apply today: https://lnkd.in/e5tPdMEB 

When it comes to how Gen Z digests and addresses the validity of information, Jigsaw’s recent research found that generally, they look to each other. The insights from our recent Gen Z ethnographic study, featured in a new piece from Business Insider, are informing our work as we try to meet Gen Z where they are – in the comment sections! Our findings are just one piece of a larger effort to support better, more informed dialogue online along with the addition of bridging attributes to our Perspective API tool earlier this year. Read the full article, featuring Jigsaw CEO Yasmin Green and Head of Research Beth Goldberg, here: https://lnkd.in/dFiC4y2Z

Since 2017, Jigsaw's Perspective API has helped over 10,000 organizations enable more engaging discussions online, supporting diverse voices in 18 languages and ranging from small publishers to large social media platforms. Earlier this year, Jigsaw announced the addition of bridging attributes to Perspective, attributes that recognize speech qualities like reasoning and personal stories to keep discussions engaging and productive. This marked the first step in our ongoing mission to enhance deliberative technologies and promote a healthier dialogue online, and we’re eager to partner with the many dedicated organizations already working toward this vision. That’s why we’re excited about some new initiatives that we’re driving in the next few months: - Position Paper: A comprehensive agenda for the field of deliberative technologies, with plans for future research and technical development alongside 20 co-authors in civil society, the private sector, governments, and academia. - Technical Research: A partnership with Google DeepMind to explore how LLMs might help make sense of large-scale conversations by identifying areas of emerging consensus or divergence. - Catalytic Funding: A partnership with Google.org for the Google.org Impact Challenge: Strengthening Democracy in Europe, a €15M open call to fund European nonprofits, civic entities, academic institutions, and social enterprises to help scale initiatives promoting democratic resilience in the region. Take a look at our new blog post for a more detailed look: https://lnkd.in/e_TxsVJ5

Jigsaw CEO Yasmin Green sat down with former British MP Rory Stewart as part of the Dialogues Dispatch series to discuss AI’s risk for misinformation and elections and how we can form more constructive discourse. Drawing on decades of experience working in technology and policy, the conversation dives into how the internet, at its core, has the potential to be a great democratic tool. Check it out on Spotify, Apple Music, or here on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/e4ZaFZaS

In 2018, Jigsaw launched Outline, a tool initially developed for small scale operators, enabling individuals and small organizations to run VPN services that are difficult for censors to detect. This capability is essential for those living under authoritarian regimes to access the internet securely. Over the years, Outline’s potential to address other use cases has led to intriguing adaptations of the code. As censors evolve, circumvention experts and VPN providers must also evolve. Jigsaw’s Outline team partnered with Okthanks to understand how VPN providers leverage Outline to create VPN services – with user bases ranging from under 100 and in some cases, up to 500,000 users. We surveyed 8 VPN providers using Outline with the dual goals of enhancing the future of the product and gaining insights into the social experiences, technological challenges, operational hurdles, and daily needs of Outline providers. We hope this report provides valuable insights for the broader circumvention community to explore and implement diverse approaches to address the varied challenges encountered by communities worldwide. We encourage those advancing internet freedom to strengthen connections and continue to share knowledge with the community. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/emEJXh87

When Jigsaw launched Perspective API in 2017, we set out to provide moderators with a suite of tools that would allow them to identify toxicity in online speech. Today, we’re launching seven new attributes to Perspective aimed to promote more constructive discourse online. Drawing on extensive social science research, our new experimental bridging attributes for Perspective API will allow content moderators to create more productive conflict in online discussions and bring people together. That’s why we’re excited to introduce seven new experimental attributes for Perspective – including respect, nuance, curiosity, and personal story. Content moderators can choose which combination of attributes best fits their needs and the needs of their community – whether to sort comments, detect comments to pin at the top of a conversation, or to flag notable comments for response. These new attributes are currently in experimental mode, and we are eager to learn more about how these attributes can be used and improved. We encourage developers to share feedback as we improve the efficacy of these new tools. https://lnkd.in/eGu86xjG

What if AI could be leveraged to bring people together in online conversations? In 2017, we launched Perspective API - a suite of machine learning tools that help moderators and researchers identify toxicity in online speech. Identifying toxicity is just one way to address divisions in online conversations, and it’s why we’re expanding on Perspective seven years after its initial launch to introduce seven new “bridging” attributes. We’re excited to announce the addition of seven new experimental bridging attributes, giving content moderators the ability to identify and rank comments based on attributes such as nuance, personal stories, reasoning, compassion, and more. Extensive research shows that bridging systems can promote civility and help individuals learn from differing viewpoints – leading to better outcomes for constructive discourse online. How might these new tools look in action? For example, moderators might choose to rank the top 5 comments in a given comment section according to nuance or respect. By releasing these algorithms, we hope to provide moderators with the tools needed to improve comment sections and facilitate healthier online conversations, and we��re looking forward to hearing feedback on how these attributes can be improved. Read more about this new direction for Perspective here from TIME. https://lnkd.in/e8VAd9JJ

Introducing the Dialogues Dispatch limited series: six insightful conversations with bold thinkers and Google leaders exploring AI's impact on the world, sustainability, and more. Find all six episodes on your preferred streaming platform. https://lnkd.in/ef5Xhpeg