U.S. tech companies, including Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet's Google announced in a joint statement they will work together to quell coronavirus misinformation on their platforms, but warned efforts could be hampered as they have to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence.
Conway G.
Gittens reports.
Some of the tech world's biggest names announced they are joining together to combat the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus on their platforms. In a joint statement released by Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet's Google and Twitter - the tech giants said they will work together to quell misinformation.
In addition, other tech companies including LinkedIn, Reddit and YouTube are stepping up to the plate in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world to share critical updates about the virus.
For example, Microsoft's search engine Bing this week launched an interactive map tracking the coronavirus outbreak, allowing users to click on a location and get information on active cases, number of deaths and other information.
In the U.S., you can even get state by state data.
Big tech, which is often under fire for its laissez-faire stance on free speech, is trying to be proactive as the coronavirus spreads.
But the industry is already anticipating problems on the horizon.
Like most sectors, Silicon Valley has sent much of its workforce home, which means the teams of contract workers responsible for policing and cleaning up tech platforms aren't fully functional.
The tech giants say they will have to rely more on artificial intelligence to do the job.
Google's YouTube, Facebook and Twitter warned users may see an uptick in videos and other content mistakenly taken down by AI; of course that's not limited to the announced effort to combat mistruths about the coronavirus, but to all topics as AI takes greater control of policing content.
Google in a blog post said such software is not always as accurate as humans, which will likely led to errors and slower turnaround times for content to be restored based on appeals.
Facebook and Twitter issued similar warnings.
VIA BEETCAM -- They often say it takes a crisis to really change. So how does coronavirus promise to change the technology..
The coronavirus is probably the first major pandemic to occur in the age of social media.