Why YouTube has mistaken the fire of Notre Dame with the attack of the twin towers – 16/04/2019

The iconic Parisian cathedral of Our Lady The Monday fire and the devastating image, which is already part of the story, have occupied blankets around the world. Once the information was known, the covers of the main websites were also released. in trendy topic world on Twitter. However, something curious happened in Youtube. The platform, which also collected some of the live coverage of the media, confused the fire of the religious building with the attacks of 11-S in New York.

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As revealed by The Verge, the video platform has introduced a text explaining the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, broadcast live by television networks such as CBS News or France 24. An error in the YouTube algorithm, since the two events have no relation and there is no indication that the fire of Notre Dame is the result of a terrorist attack.

The small paragraph on September 11 is part of YouTube's fact-checking effort to: prevent the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories on the dock. These texts contain information from Wikipedia and other sources, such as Encyclopedia Britannica, for events involving a large number of conspiracy theories. However, it is strange that the company's algorithm connects the fire to the attack of the twin towers.

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"We are deeply saddened by the ongoing fire at Notre Dame Cathedral," YouTube said in a statement, saying "these panels are algorithmically enabled and our systems are sometimes wrong." And they added, "We disable these signs in live transmissions related to the fire."

This error, according to the Washington Post, is another example of the current limitations of IT tools to detect and fight false information. While large tech companies have hired tens of thousands of human moderators in recent years, Silicon Valley executives have relied on computers because they "are faster and more efficient at detecting problems." But the incident shows the weaknesses of the computerized systems. It should be remembered that a month ago, YouTube and Facebook had difficulty detecting and blocking the video of the collective shoot in a mosque in New Zealand.

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On the other hand, YouTube has correctly and quickly identified the Notre Dame fire as a last minute news event, with reliable news channels emerging at the top of the list. ;screen. Some technology companies have reported having successfully used artificial intelligence to detect certain images uploaded by users on their platforms, such as child badgraphy or images of extremist terrorist groups.

(Source: The Vanguardia)