Victims of Sexual Harassment Have a New Resource: AI


MIT Technology Review (The Download): “If you have ever dealt with sexual harassment in the workplace, there is now a private online place for you to go for help. Botler AI, a startup based in Montreal, on Wednesday launched a system that provides free information and guidance to those who have been sexually harassed and are unsure of their legal rights.

Using deep learning, the AI system was trained on more than 300,000 U.S. and Canadian criminal court documents, including over 57,000 documents and complaints related to sexual harassment. Using this information, the software predicts whether the situation explained by the user qualifies as sexual harassment, and notes which laws may have been violated under the criminal code. It then generates an incident report that the user can hand over to relevant authorities….

The tool starts by asking simple questions that can guide the software, like what state you live in and when the incident occured. Then, you explain your situation in plain language. The software then creates a report based on that account and what it has learned from the court cases on which it was trained.

The company’s ultimate goal is to provide free legal tools to help with a multitude of issues, not just sexual harassment. In this Botler isn’t alone—a similar company called DoNotPay started as an automated way to fight parking tickets but has since expanded massively (see “This Chatbot Will Help You Sue Anyone“)….(More).