A mother with her child stood on the windowsill, and she took a picture of the street, accompanied by obscure text posted in the Weibo "Tree Hole". The danger of suicide is imminent.
At the same time, the artificial intelligence robot recognized the mother's dangerous behavior and issued a monitoring alarm to Zhou Zihan, hundreds of kilometers away. Zhou Zihan, a national second-level psychological counselor and the head of the Shanghai area of the "Tree Cave Action Rescue Group", put aside her hand and immediately dialed the phone to start crisis intervention based on the information she had obtained before.
Suicidal people often appear under the blogger homepage of suicide and in various negative emotions "super talk". These places are called "tree holes". In the "tree hole", they either confide in each other, or encourage encouragement, or exchange their own suicide plans, and eventually put into action. In order to stop suicide, the "Tree Hole Action Rescue Group" was established in 2018, and volunteers are distributed in various cities. The artificial intelligence robot of this public welfare rescue group has found suicidal people in the "tree hole" through 24-hour non-stop inspection.
After these people were discovered by artificial intelligence robots, Zhou Zihan and other volunteers with professional backgrounds formed a special team to carry out targeted psychological counseling and rescue for them. Artificial intelligence robots and volunteers lurk together in the "tree hole" on the Internet, like flashlights, illuminating the way forward for people who may take the wrong steps.
One alarm
In April 2018, Huang Zhisheng, founder of the "Tree Cave Action Rescue Group" and distinguished professor of the Affiliated Mental Health Center of Tongji University, proposed the idea of "Tree Cave Rescue Action" in a "medical artificial intelligence" WeChat group, trying to use artificial intelligence to find users with suicidal tendencies in the Weibo "Tree Cave" messages that add thousands of messages every day. Three months later, Huang Zhisheng launched the first generation of Weibo tree cave information mining artificial intelligence robot "Tree Cave Action Robot 001". This robot filters out irrelevant information by retrieving, comparing, translating, and identifying, and screens out Weibo users who really need to be involved. Huang Zhisheng will send the report obtained by the robot monitoring to the rescue group. If there is a rescue operation, volunteers will spontaneously form a rescue team of more than 5 people to help.
At the end of 2020, the mobile phone of Li Africa, a national second-level psychological counselor and volunteer in the Shanghai area of the "Tree Cave Action Rescue Group", received an alert message from an artificial intelligence robot, and Xiao Huang, a depressed patient, released his suicide plan in a "tree hole": to wear a pair of sneakers, somewhere in west China. She's still selling her belongings.
After the artificial intelligence robot alarms, the volunteers will analyze and screen the recipient's historical messages in the "tree hole" from the alarm again. If you encounter xiaohuang like this, then it will be sent to the volunteer group through the "alarm" and "diffusion" functions.
Soon, a rescue team was formed. The first volunteer who reached out to help ate the closed door soup when he sent a private message to Xiao Huang, and he was blacked out by Xiao Huang as soon as he expressed concern. On the occasion of the New Year, the volunteers of the rescue group were like a big exam, and the festive atmosphere made Xiaohuang and other patients feel sad and helpless.
The team began browsing Xiao Huang's Weibo homepage. This is a routine operation in the rescue process, and the Weibo homepage may contain the recipient's living habits, social relationships, and records including medical treatment, abnormal behavior... When visiting the Weibo homepage for the first time, the system will recommend relevant bloggers and topics to the visitors according to the blogger's preferences, which is one of the ways to further understand the recipients.
Xiao Huang's Weibo appeared under the "good conversation, how to delete me?" "Message. Li Africa speculated that Xiao Huang resisted the people who tried to care for and rescue her, and she might only chat with strangers once or twice, and then immediately blocked the other party. "Can you send a book list?" In order to rescue, Lee Africa pretended to be a buyer and Xiao Huang exchanged addresses and contact information. Despite speaking cautiously, After completing the transaction, Li Africa was blocked by Xiao Huang after saying some words of concern.
Fortunately, another volunteer contacted Xiao Huang's relatives and told them to pay attention to the pair of sneakers. One day, Xiao Huang's relatives found that Xiao Huang and the pair of sneakers were missing, and all the red flags appeared at the same time. The rescue team pieced together Xiao Huang's plan through Weibo information, and at the same time mobilized personnel to find Xiao Huang, they also reported to the police. Soon after, with the joint efforts of the police and rescue workers, Xiaohuang was found before arriving at her destination. After psychological counseling, Xiaohuang gave up the idea of taking a life and carried out corresponding treatment in the follow-up, and her life gradually returned to the right track.
Artificial intelligence has more advantages than artificial
On November 28, 2021, Weibo photography blogger "Lu Dawson" disappeared after leaving a long suicide note, and overnight, many netizens joined the search for him. On December 1, the body of "Deer Dawson" was found.
For several days, hundreds of new messages have been added to his Weibo every day. Most of them are mourning, some people tell their stories, and a small part reveals strange emotions - they may have plans to imitate "Deer Dawson".
Surveillance alerts from AI robots. Courtesy of respondents
Recently, netizens "Joy" left a message, she felt that Lu Dawson's Weibo has become a message board that can make her feel "breathing", and she wants to take her suitcase to a place with a sea; netizens "KIWI" leave a message, want to go to the bottom of the sea to plant roses. Their words have a worrying connection to the way "Deer Dawson" ended his life. Judging from the Weibo homepage, they are clearly a different look, from the name, the content of the post, Joy should be a warm and cheerful girl who always puts a smile on her face. In Li Africa's mobile phone, the information released by "Joy" and "KIWI" was listed in the monitoring report released by the artificial intelligence robot. Lee Africa chose to "pay attention quietly.".
Xiao Huang, "Joy" and "KIWI" have common characteristics, they have a certain tendency to depression, may not confide in acquaintances, but leave a message in an inconspicuous place on Weibo.
In March 2012, Weibo netizens committed suicide and died. Her Weibo became a "tree hole", leaving nearly 2 million comments, more than 153,000 likes and retweets, and 112,000 respectively.
Every time a netizen dies lightly, a group of netizens will gather under their Weibo to become a new "tree hole". Netizens like Xiao Huang, "Joy" and "KIWI" will shout out the words hidden in their hearts to the tree hole.
According to some studies, after excluding dementia, the prevalence of mental disorders in China reached 9.3%. According to WHO, about 1 billion people worldwide are suffering from mental disorders, and the most irreparable outcome is suicide, with one person dying every every 40 seconds on average. For a long time, many people's cognition of mental illness has remained at the level of severe diseases such as schizophrenia, and the related symptoms and patients have not only been ignored, but even discriminated against. A strong sense of shame makes people dare not go to the doctor, and some people can only be like "joy", whitewashing the unspeakable with cheerfulness. Suicide is like a psychological infectious disease, especially after the occurrence of suicides with a high awareness rate, the suicide rate caused by imitation increases. It seems like a difficult cycle.
There is a saying circulating in the "tree hole": "The cycle of impulsive suicide is 13 seconds." That is to say, if you hold me in 13 seconds, I probably won't kill myself. Give you 13 seconds to save me. ”
The hard part is finding them.
Huang Zhisheng estimates that to find suicidal people in a purely manual way, it takes 100 computers to run 24 hours a day, and manpower and monthly electricity bills are huge costs. In addition, searching for negative information in a manual way, at a certain time, they will be desensitized, and they will not be able to accurately identify semantics. The artificial intelligence robot can work continuously, and there is no desensitization, it has more advantages than artificial.
However, there are also difficulties for artificial intelligence robots to identify depression and suicidal tendencies. Chinese often pun on them, especially when people predict their own thoughts. This is also the significance of artificial intelligence learning, artificial intelligence robots use artificial intelligence in the knowledge graph technology, continuous learning, iteration. At present, the robot of the "Tree Hole Action Rescue Group" has been updated 15 times, and by the "Tree Hole Action Robot 016", it has been able to understand the motivation behind words such as domestic violence and economic hardship, and the accuracy of determining the risk of suicide has reached 82%.
However, the number of "tree holes" is large, and there are many people who need help inside. The rescue team has developed a suicide risk grading criterion, which is divided into 0-10 levels. The higher the level, the higher the risk of suicide. For example, level 6 is that suicide is already in the plan, and the time of suicide is unknown; more than level 6 indicates that the mode of suicide has been determined, or even in execution. Ai-powered bots will warn of information at level 6 and above, and volunteers will give priority to assisting high-risk Weibo users.
The suicide risk grading criteria being used by rescue teams. Courtesy of respondents
More than 5,000 blocks
Find people in need, and then professionals step in to help.
Zhou Zihan, who has nearly 20 years of experience in the psychological industry, received a surveillance alert, a mother posted a scene of her looking down at the ground in a "tree hole", and she stood on the window sill with her child. She had two babies, no stable income, financial constraints led to depression and the idea of taking a life.
"Are you okay?" "I see your message on Weibo..." Zhou Zihan cautiously broke the ice, she let the other party feel concerned, eliminate the strange feeling, but also let the other party let go of resistance.
After the conversation, Zhou Zihan found that the mother could describe the things in front of her and had the willingness to chat, coupled with her posting behavior, it was conceivable that the mother was looking forward to communication in her heart. In this regard, Zhou Zihan tried to call out the positive emotions in the other party's heart through listening and empathy. "You've come up with a lot of things for your kids." "Imagine if there was an accident that a child had a psychological shadow, what would be the impact?" Zhou Zihan guided the topic step by step, making the recipients aware of their dangerous state. The mother calmed down under Zhou Zihan's intervention.
After a crisis, the rescue stories of recipients often drag a long tail. After the establishment of the rescue team, the recipients will generally be observed for at least 3 months, and the rescue operation will be completed after the situation has stabilized. What the mother needs is not only psychological assistance, but also the ability to survive independently. The rescue team tried to get her into contact with e-commerce, helped her pull customers, and tried to find a way to help her find a job.
Online rescue. Courtesy of respondents
In some rescues, rescuers encounter resistance. Some of the families of the rescued are not only not grateful, but will say, "If this matter is spread, I will sue you." "It's because they feel like their privacy is being snooped on."
Zhou Zihan has summed up a set of privacy protection plans in his years of work. For example, rescuers only know the basic information of the recipient through open channels, and even if private information is obtained during the rescue process, the rescuers will not communicate with each other.
Since 2017, a foreign social networking site has launched an artificial intelligence suicide prevention function, which can directly locate the IP address of the publisher through the server, and even more personal information. However, the information collected by the Operation Tree Hole Rescue Group does not involve personal privacy. Although the rescue is more difficult, it also avoids ethical issues to a certain extent. But if there is a contradiction, "saving lives is the highest ethic." Huang Zhisheng said.
Xiaoyu has recently released a lot of obscure graphics. Her information is included in the report of the artificial intelligence robot. But on December 22, 2021, her new Weibo said: "Tonight many people asked me what was wrong, and I suddenly burst into tears, thanking strangers for their comfort and care." "There's a shadow of volunteers behind that. In the rescue team, volunteers without professional background will also help in the way they can. They crouched in the "tree hole" and greeted everyone the AI robot found, because the relief from strangers can light up a person's heart.
Another time, volunteers saw Komori post suicide plans and charcoal shopping records. They find the seller to intercept the items that are about to be sent, and cooperate with professional volunteers to prevent Komori from committing suicide.
The "Tree Cave Operation Rescue Group" has expanded from more than 30 people to more than 700 people, including about 100 psychologists and psychiatric medical experts, about 200 people with psychological counselors and psychology professional backgrounds, and about 400 volunteers. In the three years since its establishment, the rescue team has tried to prevent more than 5,010 suicides and provided more than 15,000 kinds of assistance.
The world is worth nostalgia for
Rescue efforts did not all go well. Huang Zhisheng and volunteers once rescued a female college student. Knowing that she was depressed due to emotional problems, volunteers donated money and regularly sent flowers anonymously to encourage her to live an active life. Every time she receives flowers, she takes a photo and posts it on social media. Just when everyone thought that she was indeed getting better, the girl finally chose to die.
Some people wonder the significance of the existence of this non-profit organization: people should have the right to make their own choices; people are accustomed to seeking medical treatment, and this organization seems to be a group of medical workers looking for recipients. Huang Zhisheng believes that if it is an impulse triggered by depression, then it can be cured. Suicide plans can lead to irreparable outcomes.
As soon as the alarm of the AI robot sounds, the volunteers will assemble.
One afternoon in October 2021, Xiaonan left a farewell letter on Weibo and disappeared, mentioning that it was countless small things that crushed her. After Huang Zhisheng saw the information, he immediately called for emergency help to 30 "tree hole" groups and 24 medical artificial intelligence groups: "We need team members to search for and rescue a girl who has disappeared." ”
Soon, a team of 28 people was formed. In the team, there are professional volunteers, people in the same city as Xiaonan, and people who contact the local Blue Sky Rescue Team and the media to look for Xiaonan online and offline at the same time. The team is getting bigger and bigger.
In the rescue group, someone asked: She has been missing for more than an hour, if she is going to the beach, is there time to save her now? Huang Zhisheng replied: "People who want to jump into the sea will usually sit on the beach for more than two hours. This is determined by the psychology of the suicidal person. There is still a chance. Be sure to find her as soon as possible. "As it got close to midnight, good news finally came from ahead. With the joint efforts of the local police and rescue team, the girl was found at the beach and was unharmed. The big stone in everyone's heart finally landed.
What Huang Zhisheng did not expect was that hundreds of people were willing to participate in the rescue operation. This is probably the largest number of participants since the establishment of the rescue team.
Rescue scene. Courtesy of respondents
In fact, the organization has been facing a shortage of manpower since its inception. On the one hand, because the "Tree Cave Action Rescue Group" is a public welfare, and the volunteers have their own main business; on the other hand, the number of "Tree Holes" is increasing day by day, and the learning of artificial intelligence robots also screens out more people in need of help. However, the rescue team could not monitor every "tree hole" on the network, nor could it pay attention to everyone in need of help outside the "tree hole", and could only intervene in the most urgent actions.
Some people inexplicably asked: "Why are people with suicidal tendencies not even afraid of death, but afraid of living?" Wouldn't it be nice to think about something more fun? ”
Huang Zhisheng said that this idea is wrong, people with the idea of light life are like having a serious cold emotionally, and need someone to treat them and help them; the disease is eradicated, and the disease of light life disappears. He wrote in the rescue summary: "This world is worth nostalgia! ”
(In order to protect privacy, the recipients of this article are pseudonyms)