Artificial Intelligence That Can Coordinate Care for Victims of Domestic Violence
How and why the JAEL.AI chatbot will assist people looking for help while trying to escape violent situations
We all know the statistics about domestic abuse ( Every 9 seconds in the US a woman is assaulted or beaten ), and we all have heard the stories of horrific abuse, but what do we really know about that moment when you are searching trying to find a way out of a violent environment? You may have less than a few minutes to contact someone, your abuser might be right around the corner or in the next room. What happens in those few minutes after you make the decision to leave can determine whether you escape, or if you get beaten again, or if you die. One report from a 2014 Guardian article says : “This is one of the reasons why domestic violence programs are so vital and the work that the advocates do is so important, because the advocates listen to her, find out what the needs are and then do whatever they can to help her access the resources that she needs to get out if she thinks that getting out is what she should do. Many battered women stay, because they think: “If I leave, I’m going to die.” The fear of death is very real. The most dangerous time for people in abusive situations is the moment they decide to leave, so reducing the friction around that moment is very important.
I have personally experienced this moment. And the moments before. I can see it and feel it as a crystal clear memory. Being startled awake out of a deep sleep with someone standing over you whispering threats, the yelling, trying to hide in the room, then the door being broken in half — re-living these moments makes me shudder. This is not just the fear of being hurt, this is the fear that your spouse may kill you. Even facing the fear of death, the option of calling for help was never even a thought for me. I was embarrassed, depressed, angry and afraid all the time —but, I didn’t know resources existed for men in my situation. It wasn’t until I saw the tears stream down my son’s face from hearing all the yelling that I found the guts to do something. For me everyday life was horrific, but it was 1000 times easier for me to leave than it is for most women. I owned a business so I just didn’t come home and slept on the couch in my office. I knew that meant giving up all my things, but it didn’t matter. Most women don’t have this option. They have a logistical nightmare to consider in most cases. Kids, pets, housing, safety, finances and literally being killed. Domestic violence is the 3rd leading cause of homelessness. Yes, there are tons of resources online, but pulling up a webpage with all the resources and organizational listings may be overwhelming, confusing and too much to ask for a person facing the most frightening decision of their life. So if you are too scared to call a hotline and too overwhelmed to figure out which organization to call, what can you do?
“The thing that I did not know that was so revealing to me was that anywhere between 50% and 75% of domestic violence homicides happen at the point of separation or after [the victim] has already left [her abuser],” says Cynthia Hill, director of HBO’s Private Violence.
A chatbot might seem like an improbable solution to such a dangerous situation, but chatbots are becoming much smarter than you may imagine. Today we have chatbots for healthcare that will help you decide whether to redress or undress a wound based on your responses to detailed medical questions. There are chatbots that will help you find a rare book based on your social media history. We even have retail chatbots that will help you pick out a new outfit based on what your favorite celebrities are wearing. So, what about intelligence that helps us in our most vulnerable moments. How can technology help us in that moment when we need clear, quick thinking? In that critical moment, when we decide to leave, we need a list of options based on our location the time of day and the people we need to take with us. This is a perfect task for AI. With some training an AI could also help the victim make all of these decisions discretely, without getting on a voice call.
Just to be clear, AI can never replace a trained counselor. A good DV counselor can quickly assess the situation and use their experience to quickly create a plan for someone trying to escape. Their knowledge helps them understand the state of the person trying to escape and the danger surrounding them. There is a lot to coordinate in that moment especially when you have kids. But, sometimes getting on the phone is hard when you were being monitored by an abusive partner. Messaging may provide a silent safe alternative to calling when a victim is fearful of getting on a live call, or unsure of which resource to call first. Also, the thought of a voice conversation with a complete stranger may seem intimidating. But, if an AI chatbot can handle the initial contact and help make an introduction to a trained counselor, it’s better than not reaching out for help at all.
Axiom88 is developing an AI chatbot called jael.ai that will have the capacity to ask the most important questions to help a person trying to escape domestic violence. The jael.ai’s goal is to coordinate care at the point of trauma. By accessing a curated database of resources and trained DV counselors, a person trying to escape can have all the right information at their fingertips in the moments that matter. As we develop this software are relying on the stories of survivors and DV professionals to construct empathetic smart responses. The AI is able to detect the relative safety of the person seeking help and queries for the best resources available based on location and time of day. This instant intelligent help could mean the difference between life and death for people in dangerous environments. After the initial contact the AI searches for a live DV counselor that can take over the conversation in-line. So really the AI is just a conversation starter. But hopefully this is “the conversation” leading to a life free from abuse.
For more information on jael.ai please contact brian@axiom88.com.
You can help support the development jael.ai by donating here : http://bit.ly/donate-jael-ai
Axiom88 is an engineering first digital agency. As a development agency, we are the perfect fusion of left brain, right brain thinking, using our multitalented staff to create beautiful functional software that is architected to delight users and easily scale as the scope of app increases.
