Can an Algorithm Tell When Kids Are in Danger?

Thorn’s Spotlight tool uses text and facial recognition technology to scrub the web, helping investigators find underage sex-trafficking victims. Spotlight has been used by law enforcement on nearly 40,000 cases in North America, helping investigators find more than 9,000 children and 10,000 traffickers.

In France, a digital transformation is taking place. To lay the groundwork, the country passed the Digital Republic Act in 2016, which mandated local and central government to publish documents and public data, a significant step toward transparency and open data. Government taskforce Etalab, which has attracted top tech talent, built on that foundation by launching data.gouv.fr, a portal that hosts over 40,000 public datasets, and other organizations have coordinated collaborative open data projects between cities.

The rapid evolution of technology is continually opening new doors for how microfinance projects can be implemented, improved, and scaled. The team at ADDO A.I. sees artificial intelligence as the catalyst for both microfinance and microinsurance in the emerging markets of Asia. A.I. reduces the need for human assessments, facilitating faster pay-outs and reduced losses through predictive data, while combining information such as financial histories and social media activity with historic context data to create fair, realistic risk assessments that lead to improved credit products.

Tracking controlled substances can be difficult for hospitals, which often results in drugs being diverted from where they are supposed to go. To tackle this problem, technology companies are stepping in by creating software that utilizes a machine-learning algorithm that "can identify risky prescription and dispensation patterns among healthcare staff."

Albatrosses are known to follow fishing ships, which often puts them in harm's way and leads to death, but scientists are working to decrease this tragic outcome by combining machine learning and public data. This process allows the researchers to make assessments about rules regarding time of day for setting fishing lines and creates a sense of accountability for countries to adhere to.

Governments around the world are exploring whether blockchain technologies can improve public administration. In theory, blockchain could improve accountability and trust in government. In practice, pilot projects are hitting roadblocks and may take more time to implement and scale than some might hope.

For all the positive tools and platforms the internet has helped create over the decades, it can also be an extremely dark place, and has unfortunately enabled the horrific and wide-spread sharing of millions of images depicting child abuse, including of rape and torture. Artificial Intelligence - specifically the Arachnid web crawler launched by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection - is proving the most efficient and effective weapon in shutting down these abominable sites, combing through scores of data at a speed no human or government can match, and issuing takedown notices.

Mosquito transmitted diseases are only becoming more prevalent due to climate change, posing a global health risk. Various methods are being tested such as genetic modification and gene drives, Project DiSARM-uses technology to map where to spray insecticide, and introduction of Wolbachia-a bacterial disease that decreases mosquitos' ability to reproduce-into the environment.

Illegal fishing is a grave concern that not only threatens to destroy the ocean's ecosystem but the livelihoods of billions of people around the world who depend on stable fish populations for food. Now, software developed in a partnership between Vulcan - a private Seattle-based tech firm - and Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization allows law enforcement to quickly analyze suspicious patterns from the transponders of thousands of ships at a time, using special algorithms that automatically detect is a ship is a high-risk for criminal activity.

Beyond its common application as a predictor of consumer purchasing behavior, AI can be utilized to tackle poverty issues, improve agricultural efficiency, and increase access to information for otherwise disconnected populations. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are putting global satellite photographs into a complex algorithm to gauge economic activity.