User-generated content (UGC) is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, and audio, that can be created, shared, or posted by users on online platforms such as social media, wikis, streaming channels, and online multi-player games. Content moderation tools are provided by the online platform or a third party to assist with content moderation of UGC. Content moderation tools enable the monitoring of content submitted/generated by users, the applying of rules that define acceptable content, and the removal or replacement of problematic content. Indeed, content moderation tools for UGC allow for the UGC to be reviewed for text, images, and video that could be problematic or provide a reporting function where other users may flag content for review. Content moderation can be manual or automated. Example automated content moderation includes blocking specific users, allow-listing certain users, keyword blocking or filters, and image filters. Accordingly, there are a number of tools available for UGC moderation that can include certain automated processes as well as support human review and intervention.
In contrast to the systems in place for UGC content moderation, when it comes to system generated content (SGC), most methods of managing such content rely on the developers to use appropriate terminology and/or program auto-generated content in a manner that avoids certain words or phrases. Certain systems use block lists or filters to prevent a user from being exposed to unwanted content, for example, to keep profanity or nudity from being available. The use of individual blocklists can create inconsistencies across features and applications without any explanation as to why certain content is blocked in one versus the other.
SGC can be any content that a system creates and presents to a user and may include output of recommender systems. One challenge for moderating SGC is that automated tools can be blunt instruments where designs either over block for terms that are only sensitive in context or inadvertently allow content that can be harmful to users through.
A content moderation service for system generated content is provided. Through the described service, user generated content moderation systems can be leveraged for moderation of system generated content. Further, the interplay between system generated content and user generated content can be captured so that context for the system generated content, including any user generated content surrounding the system generated content or influencing the system generated content, can be considered when determining whether the particular system generated content contains something that may be an issue. Through the described system and techniques, information about risk can be provided to an application or feature so that the application or feature can use that information to determine what to suggest, recommend, offer, or otherwise act.
A method carried out by a content moderation service can include receiving a system generated content from an application identified as a result of detecting a trigger associated with a content moderation list in the system generated content, wherein the trigger associated with a content moderation list is a word, phrase, image, audio, or video indicated as requiring a moderation action; receiving context for the trigger, wherein the context for the trigger comprises other words or phrases or images in proximity to the trigger; evaluating the trigger in combination with the context for the trigger according to a content moderation process to obtain a determination of a risk assessment; and providing the risk assessment to the application for determining the moderation action.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
A content moderation service for system generated content is provided. Through the described service, user generated content moderation systems can be leveraged for moderation of system generated content. Further, the interplay between system generated content and user generated content can be captured so that context for the system generated content, including any user generated content surrounding the system generated content or influencing the system generated content, can be considered when determining whether the particular system generated content contains something that may be an issue. Through the described system and techniques, information about risk can be provided to an application or feature so that the application or feature can use that information to determine what to suggest, recommend, offer, or otherwise act.
Advantageously, by capturing results of system generated content (SGC) and running the SGC through systems the same as or similar to those treating UGC (e.g., evaluating content based on certain rules such as for keywords being present in the content), it is possible to provide additional protection against problematic content and the flags produced by evaluating the system generated content can be used to retrain models of the systems generating the SGC. That is, the systems generating the SGC through, for example, various artificial intelligence features, can determine whether the output of the system (i.e., the SGC) contains content that can be harmful/risky to users. The content moderation service directly and through feedback mechanisms (e.g., for use in retraining models at the system generating the SGC) allows for reducing over-blocking for terms that are only sensitive in context.
As an illustrative scenario, assume that a young intern is reflecting upon their time with their company and sets out to write “This is the last day of my . . . ” and the auto-complete suggestion function in their word processing application suggests the word “life” to complete the sentence by a single input (e.g., swipe, tab, enter) instead of the user needing to type the next word (or words) (see e.g., scenario shown in
Referring to
Following the example of the intern described above, in state 100A of the graphical user interface (GUI) of Application 100, a user creates UGC 130, stating “This is the last day of my”. The UGC 130 (and optional context) is communicated (135) to Application AI 110, for example using any suitable data exchange protocol such as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). In response, Application AI 110 generates (120) a list of word suggestions 140 to serve as auto-complete suggestions to logically follow the UGC 130.
In the example illustrated by
While the Application AI 110 has determined that the system generated content “life” may be a relevant word to complete UGC 130 “This is the last day of my”, it is not necessarily an appropriate word, particularly given the context provided by the UGC 130. Suggesting “life” as an autocomplete suggestion in many contexts is both suitable and appropriate. However, the combination of the UGC 130 “This is the last day of my” and the suggestion “life” creates a sentence rife with suicidal ideation. There is a clear distinction between system generated content that is suitable or relevant to suggest, and system generated content that is appropriate to suggest in context of the current content (whether user generated or system generated).
To address the potential of the system-generated term “life” as having problematic contexts, the system generated content can be evaluated by content moderation systems through the described content moderation service. The content moderation service can be considered a system generated content moderation feature that may be a standalone service or integrated with a content moderation system or application server, described in more detail with respect to
Initially, for the Application AI 110 to recognize that the term “life” could be a trigger that may require a content moderation action (e.g., provide a content warning, avoid use of the term, request moderation review, etc.), Application AI 110 either is informed that the word may be problematic (e.g., by adding the term to a list or by incorporating in some other form such as a model used in generating the content) or uses the content moderation feature to identify triggers. The described content moderation service/feature can provide a feedback mechanism to be used to update the models at the Application AI 110 and/or may evaluate the system generated content for triggers itself.
Referring to
Returning to the example scenario of
The content moderation system 220 can evaluate (250) each resulting combination to determine if the combination falls within a content moderation category. Because the SG content moderation feature 230 creates the combined system generated content and context (e.g., UGC+SG1), the content moderation system 220 can treat the received independent results as user generated content and utilize existing rules for user generated content (which are updated in accordance with any suitable methodology). For example, as seen in
In particular, the combinations produced by combining [UGC+SG2] and [UGC+SG3] are not flagged by the content moderation system 220 because neither combination produces content that falls into an established categorical content moderation problem. However, the content moderation system 220 will flag (255) the combination of [UGC+SG1]. This combination is flagged because the combined sentence “This is the last day of my life” is recognized by the content moderation system as suicidal ideation.
The content moderation system 220 sends (260) a flagged [UGC+SG1] back to the SG Content Moderation Feature 230. The SG Content Moderation Feature 265 identifies and classifies the system generated content SG1 “life” as a trigger word. This is because, as the content moderation system flag denotes, there exists a combination SG1 “life” and context (UGC) that may be flagged for falling into a content moderation problem category. As a result, the SG Content Moderation Feature 230 can save (270) SG1 “life” in a trigger list. In some embodiments, SG Content Moderation Feature 230 may also notify (275) Application AI 210 to save (280) SG1 “life” in a trigger list. Because at least the system generated content of the combined UGC and SG1 is labeled as system generated content, the SG content moderation feature 230 is able to extract the system generated term from the flagged sentence/phrase received from the content moderation system 220. Once the Application AI 210 and/or the SG content moderation feature 230 has a particular content on a trigger list, normal operation of the Application AI 210 will trigger content moderation when that particular content is generated by the Application AI 210.
In some cases, the content moderation feature 230 can label each identified system generated content of the tracking set (e.g., as described above) of system generated content that results in the particular moderation action or the particular risk assessment as a new trigger; and communicate with the application or the application AI 210 to update a model with the new triggers. In some cases, the content moderation feature 230 can perform statistical analysis with respect to each identified system generated content of the tracking set of system generated content that results in the particular moderation action or the particular risk assessment, which may be used to further assist either the content moderation system 220 or the application AI 210.
In the implementation reflected in
In the present example, the system generated content 140 suggestion “life” is flagged as a trigger word by the Application AI 210-B, as “life” is present on the trigger/moderation list 300 (e.g., resulting from the process described with respect to
The Application AI 210-B can also send (310) associated user generated content and/or system generated content which may surround the suggestion to the SG Content Moderation Feature 320-B.
Content Moderation Feature 320-B receives (322) the system generated content with the trigger and, if not received with the system generated content, requests (324) the context of the system generated content from the Application AI 210-B. The Content Moderation Feature 320-B receives (326) the context for the trigger, which is the associated user generated content and/or system generated content which may surround the suggestion. The combination of the system generated content with the trigger and the context (of the associated UGC or surrounding system generated content) is provided to the content moderation system 330 by the content moderation feature 320-B.
The content moderation system 330 evaluates (332) the system generated content and context in accordance with the rules at the system and returns (334) a flag or notification regarding a risk assessment to the content moderation feature 320-B for informing the Application AI 210-B. In some cases, the flag or notification includes information of the severity level (e.g., high severity level, lower severity level, etc.).
In the implementation reflected in
The SG Content Moderation Feature 320-C receives (352) the system generated content 140 from the Application AI 210-C and checks (354) each of the system generated content 140 against the content moderation list 300 for a trigger to determine (356) whether a trigger is present If the SG Content Moderation Feature 320-C determines in operation 356 that no triggers are present, the SG Content Moderation Feature 320-C informs (358) the Application AI 210-C that the Application AI 210-C can send suggestion(s) to Application 100 (e.g., based on established criteria). The communication informing the Application AI 210-C may indicate no triggers were present. If the Content Moderation Feature 320-C determines in operation 356 that there is a trigger present in the system generated content 140, the Content Moderation Feature 320-C requests (360) the context of the system generated content with the trigger. The Content Moderation Feature 320-C can request the context from the Application AI 210-C; and the Application AI 210-C sends (344) the associated UGC or system generated content to the Content Moderation Feature 320-C.
The Content Moderation Feature 320-C receives (362) the context for the trigger, which is the associated user generated content and/or system generated content which may surround the suggestion. The combination of the system generated content with the trigger and the context (of the associated UGC or surrounding system generated content) is provided to the content moderation system 330 by the content moderation feature 320-C; and as described with respect to
As illustrated in
Content moderation feature 440 may be implemented as part of the content moderation system 430, the Application AI 420, or as a standalone system. Content moderation feature 440 may be embodied as system 800 described with respect to
Method 500 further includes receiving (520) context for the trigger, where the context for the trigger includes other words or phrases or images (or other media) in proximity to the trigger. The context can be user generated content or system generated content surrounding the trigger content. The context for the trigger can be a sentence or sentence fragment to which the trigger belongs, an image on which the trigger is disposed, or one or more words located on an image, as some examples. Context may include associated user generated content, such as the immediately preceding user generated content (e.g., “This is the last day of my,” of
Method 500 further includes evaluating (530) the trigger in combination with the context for the trigger according to a content moderation process to obtain a determination of a risk assessment. In some cases, the content moderation process is carried out by a content moderation system that conventionally performs content moderation of user generated content.
Method 500 further includes providing (540) the risk assessment to the application for determining the moderation action. The risk assessment and/or a recommendation of the moderation action can be provided to the application via the application AI.
The software 710 can include an operating system (not shown) and application programs such as application 720 that includes an AI feature. Application 720 may be a content creation application or other productivity application.
Storage system 715 may comprise any computer readable storage media readable by the processing system 705 and capable of storing data and software 710 including the application 720.
Storage system 715 may include volatile and nonvolatile memories, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Examples of storage media of storage system 715 include random access memory, read only memory, magnetic disks, optical disks, CDs, DVDs, flash memory, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other suitable storage media. In no case are the storage media of storage system a transitory propagated signal.
The device 700 can further include user interface system 730, which may include input/output (I/O) devices and components that enable communication between a user and the system 700. User interface system 730 can include input devices such as a mouse, track pad, keyboard, a touch device for receiving a touch gesture from a user, a motion input device for detecting non-touch gestures and other motions by a user, a microphone for detecting speech, and other types of input devices and their associated processing elements capable of receiving user input. The user interface system 730 may also include output devices such as display screen(s), speakers, haptic devices for tactile feedback, and other types of output devices. In certain cases, the input and output devices may be combined in a single device, such as a touchscreen, or touch-sensitive, display which both depicts images and receives touch gesture input from the user. A touchscreen (which may be associated with or form part of the display) is an input device configured to detect the presence and location of a touch. The touchscreen may be a resistive touchscreen, a capacitive touchscreen, a surface acoustic wave touchscreen, an infrared touchscreen, an optical imaging touchscreen, a dispersive signal touchscreen, an acoustic pulse recognition touchscreen, or may utilize any other touchscreen technology. In some embodiments, the touchscreen is incorporated on top of a display as a transparent layer to enable a user to use one or more touches to interact with objects or other information presented on the display.
Visual output may be depicted on the display (not shown) in myriad ways, presenting graphical user interface elements, text, images, video, notifications, virtual buttons, virtual keyboards, or any other type of information capable of being depicted in visual form.
The user interface system 730 may also include user interface software and associated software (e.g., for graphics chips and input devices) executed by the operating system (OS) in support of the various user input and output devices. The associated software assists the OS in communicating user interface hardware events to application programs using defined mechanisms. The user interface system 730 including user interface software may support a graphical user interface, a natural user interface, or any other type of user interface. For example, the graphical user interfaces for the application 720 described herein (e.g., shown in
Network/communications interface 740 may include communications connections and devices that allow for communication with other computing systems over one or more communication networks (not shown). Examples of connections and devices that together allow for inter-system communication may include network interface cards, antennas, power amplifiers, RF circuitry, transceivers, and other communication circuitry. The connections and devices may communicate over communication media (such as metal, glass, air, or any other suitable communication media) to exchange communications with other computing systems or networks of systems. Transmissions to and from the communications interface are controlled by the operating system, which informs applications of communications events when necessary.
The system 800 can include a processing system 810, which may include one or more processors and/or other circuitry that retrieves and executes software 820 from storage system 830. Processing system 810 may be implemented within a single processing device but may also be distributed across multiple processing devices or sub-systems that cooperate in executing program instructions.
Storage system(s) 830 can include any computer readable storage media readable by processing system 810 and capable of storing software 820. Storage system 830 may be implemented as a single storage device but may also be implemented across multiple storage devices or sub-systems co-located or distributed relative to each other. Storage system 830 may include additional elements, such as a controller, capable of communicating with processing system 810.
Software 820 can include instructions for the content moderation service 845 (and support associated APIs), which may perform processes as described with respect to
System 800 may represent any computing system on which software 820 may be staged and from where software 820 may be distributed, transported, downloaded, or otherwise provided to yet another computing system for deployment and execution, or yet additional distribution.
In embodiments where the system 800 includes multiple computing devices, the server can include one or more communications networks that facilitate communication among the computing devices. For example, the one or more communications networks can include a local or wide area network that facilitates communication among the computing devices. One or more direct communication links can be included between the computing devices. In addition, in some cases, the computing devices can be installed at geographically distributed locations. In other cases, the multiple computing devices can be installed at a single geographic location, such as a server farm or an office.
A network/communications interface 850 may be included, providing communication connections and devices that allow for communication between system 800 and other computing systems (not shown) over a communication network or collection of networks (not shown) or the air. The network can be, but is not limited to, a cellular network (e.g., wireless phone), a point-to-point dial up connection, a satellite network, the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a Wi-Fi network, an ad hoc network or a combination thereof. Such networks are widely used to connect various types of network elements, such as hubs, bridges, routers, switches, servers, and gateways. The network may include one or more connected networks (e.g., a multi-network environment) including public networks, such as the Internet, and/or private networks such as a secure enterprise private network. Access to the network may be provided via one or more wired or wireless access networks as will be understood by those skilled in the art.
Communication to and from the system 800 and other computing systems (not shown) may be carried out, in some cases, via application programming interfaces (APIs). An API is an interface implemented by a program code component or hardware component (hereinafter “API-implementing component”) that allows a different program code component or hardware component (hereinafter “API-calling component”) to access and use one or more functions, methods, procedures, data structures, classes, and/or other services provided by the API-implementing component. An API can define one or more parameters that are passed between the API-calling component and the API-implementing component. The API is generally a set of programming instructions and standards for enabling two or more applications to communicate with each other and is commonly implemented over the Internet as a set of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request messages and a specified format or structure for response messages according to a REST (Representational state transfer) or SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) architecture.
Certain techniques set forth herein with respect to the application and/or content frame platform may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computing devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, and data structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.
Alternatively, or in addition, the functionality, methods and processes described herein can be implemented, at least in part, by one or more hardware modules (or logic components). For example, the hardware modules can include, but are not limited to, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), system-on-a-chip (SoC) systems, complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) and other programmable logic devices now known or later developed. When the hardware modules are activated, the hardware modules perform the functionality, methods and processes included within the hardware modules.
Certain embodiments may be implemented as a computer process, a computing system, or as an article of manufacture, such as a computer program product or computer-readable storage medium. Certain methods and processes described herein can be embodied as software, code and/or data, which may be stored on one or more storage media. Certain embodiments of the invention contemplate the use of a machine in the form of a computer system within which a set of instructions, when executed by hardware of the computer system (e.g., a processor or processing system), can cause the system to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed above. Certain computer program products may be one or more computer-readable storage media readable by a computer system (and executable by a processing system) and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process. It should be understood that as used herein, in no case do the terms “storage media”, “computer-readable storage media” or “computer-readable storage medium” consist of transitory carrier waves or propagating signals.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as examples of implementing the claims and other equivalent features and acts are intended to be within the scope of the claims.