Google's Jigsaw unit and Tech Against Terrorism launch Altitude, a free tool that helps smaller platforms detect and remove terrorist content on their networks
WiredDavid Gilbert
Context & Ripple Effects
Altitude delivers the free moderation tool that Jigsaw and UN-backed Tech Against Terrorism had planned for smaller websites earlier in 2023. It extends Jigsaw’s longer anti-extremism work, which has included redirecting users away from propaganda and platform-level enforcement measures.
The significance is distribution: tools previously associated with large platforms’ safety capabilities are being made available to smaller networks, where moderation capacity is often more constrained.
First-order effects
Smaller platforms gain a free mechanism to identify and remove terrorist content, lowering the operational barrier to running this category of moderation.
Jigsaw and Tech Against Terrorism become providers of shared safety infrastructure rather than limiting their anti-extremism work to Google’s own services.
Second-order effects
Platforms adopting Altitude can standardize part of their terrorist-content response around a common external tool, while retaining responsibility for how they act on its signals.
If shared tools see broad adoption, high-risk content enforcement may increasingly operate as common infrastructure supplied by major technology firms and specialist partners, rather than as a capability built independently by every platform.
That shift could make safety capacity less dependent on platform size, while concentrating influence over moderation tooling and its underlying standards among a smaller set of providers.
The trend: Content moderation is moving toward shared, AI-assisted trust-and-safety infrastructure that extends large-platform capabilities to smaller online services.
At the @ParisPeaceForum & Christchurch Call, we are also giving further details of our partnership with @Google's @Jigsaw. 👉 We are building a tool to give online platforms a single elevated view of potential terrorist and violent extremist content on their sites. [image]
This is a valid point but it's frankly absurd for Andrew Bosworth of Facebook Fame to be opining on trust. Clean up your own yard first especially after the prior misleading of public on risks and the last week of state AG lawsuits and Senate hearing on children. Thanks.
It's just a cute little oopsie calling it “OpenAI” and then closing it for profit. It wasn't a profoundly Machiavellian move designed to decieve the public into supporting an intelligence model that pools power into a singular autocratic body. Just an oopsie!
We're proud to offer tooling that can help small and medium sized platforms protect their communities from extremist and terrorist content. Learn more from @daithaigilbert's latest for @WIRED.
Reminder that OpenAI is largely owned by Microsoft, a for-profit company. ChatGPT is not “owned by a non-profit”. MSFT exec here trying to pull a fast one and projecting on Meta to demonize their OSS models & aid in OAI's regulatory capture. Absolutely insane clip. [video]
Brad literally has no argument here ... he's referring to Zuck's share class control ... but you know what? YES, I trust Zuck more as a human than I do Sam who controls the “non profit”, whose controls don't fully kick in btw until the capped profits get paid out to Mr. Brad.
The use of digital platforms to spread violent extremist content is an urgent issue with real-world consequences. By combining Tech Against Terrorism's capabilities with AI, we hope to help create a safer world both online and off. https://techagainstterrorism.org/ ...
“Meta is owned by shareholders. OpenAI is owned by a non-profit. Which would you have more confidence in? Getting your technology from a non-profit or a for profit company that is entirely controlled by one human being” — Brad Smith, Microsoft ... absolutely ridiculous [video]
I'm not a fan of most things Meta does, but without a doubt the work @ylecun and the team at #MetaAI have done so far is truly open source and can not be compared to OpenAI's models. OpenAI is purely a for profit company owned (partly) by a non-profit, like most truly large...
This is very misleading. Open AI is effectively an arm of Microsoft. It's structured as a “capped profit” in which the early investors are ‘limited’ to returns of 100x (eg ~$100b for MS). (But, Signal's a real nonprofit tech org, if you're looking)
As Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, @BradSmi says for profit companies can't be trusted. I disagree with that, and also with his preposterous claim that OpenAI is more open than open source. I like OpenAI but this naked attempt at regulatory capture (via a proxy) sucks.
Jigsaw and @techvsterrorism, in collaboration with @Gifctofficial, proudly announce Altitude, a tool that gives online platforms a single elevated view of potential terrorist and violent extremist content on their sites. It's now available for testing: https://altitude.withgoogle…
Small and medium sized platforms often lack the tools they need to quickly identify and action harmful content. By providing tooling and access to expert resources, our goal is for Altitude to help platforms keep their communities safe from terrorist and extremist content.
This new tool will be using our Terrorist Content Analytics Platform @TCAPAlerts. 🟠 More info on Altitude here: https://altitude.withgoogle.com/ ⚫️ More info on TCAP here: https://terrorismanalytics.org/ In partnership with @GIFCT_official. [video]
Introducing a groundbreaking tool to combat terrorism content online. Small platforms lacking resources can now rely on this free tool for effective content removal. Don't miss out on the opportunity to make a change. Learn more: https://www.wired.com/...
Terrorists and extremists have for years been banned from mainstream platforms, but as @Jigsaw CEO @yasmind says “They didn't give up on the internet, they went elsewhere” Now @techvsterrorism, @jigsaw and @GIFCT_official have built a tool to stop them https://www.wired.com/...