Google Relying On AI Reviewing In Light Of Coronavirus Pandemic

Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the cancellation of various events worldwide. At the same time, various tech companies have come together to fight misinformation regarding the deadly virus. Viewers could see a jump on YouTube videos as they've been erroneously taken down for content policy violations, Google explained in a blog post.

YouTube Relying On AI Content Review

Google told YouTube creators that the company is increasingly relying on automated software as a bid to reduce the number of people coming to offices. YouTube, primarily, and other business divisions are now increasingly artificial intelligence usage and automated tools to identify problematic content.

Google has explained that the artificial intelligence software isn't always as accurate as humans, which might lead to errors. The Google blog post noted that the turnaround times for such appeals against these decisions might be slower.

Apart from YouTube, human review of automated policy decisions would be slower for other products as well, hinting phone support would be limited. This extends to content rules covering submissions like ad campaigns running on Google advertising network, apps on the Google Play Store, and even business reviews posted on Google Maps.

"Some users, advertisers, developers, and publishers may experience delays in some support response times for non-critical services, which will now be supported primarily through our chat, email, and self-service channels," Google said.

It should be noted that Google's content review operations span several countries, including the United States, India, Singapore, and Ireland.

Tech Industry Affected By Coronavirus

Apart from Google, other tech companies are also initiating similar steps. Twitter notes that it would be increasing the AI automation on its platform. Twitter also noted that it wouldn't ban any user based solely on automated enforcement as it might not be fully accurate.

On the other hand, Facebook hasn't come to a decision yet. Instead, it has asked its employees to continue working claiming it lacked secure technology for remote moderation, facing backlash again.

A lot of companies worldwide have asked employees to work from home to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Mass gatherings like tech events have been canceled or moved online, like Apple's WWDC event.