Blog

Today we share the story of a fictional dating site for dogs and use it to explore how open-source LLMs compare to other moderation solutions for visual content.

Making your policy deliver accurate results in practice can be challenging. We share five tactics that are easy to test, likely to boost accuracy and fast to implement.

The future of moderation is an integrated team working side-by-side. Enter Unitary's Virtual Moderators: AI agents, backed up by expert human judgment, that replace your moderation vendor at a fraction of your current costs, with zero integration.

We are now also processing video speech in many more languages

How to use Slurm to scale up your ML/Data Science workloads 🚀

Old moderation methods are not keeping up with the rise of video. Current analysis lets harmful content slip through, failing to account for nuance and context. We need advanced, multimodal solutions, to ensure online safety for brands and users alike.

While AI has progressed in classifying content, human moderators remain key for online platforms. AI lacks nuanced understanding of context and culture needed for some moderation decisions. Laws also mandate human oversight. However, AI will likely take a larger role, requiring responsible implementation with transparency and accountability.

This article underscores the challenges in detecting Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) online, spotlighting the limited efficacy of hash matching and the prospective advancements of AI classifiers. As legal frameworks like the UK's Online Safety Bill evolve, they may propel enhanced detection technologies, despite prevailing privacy and technical hurdles. Overall, this progression may lead to mandatory technology adoption and elevated live video content detection, marking a significant stride towards combating CSAM.

Unitary has secured $15M in Series A funding to enhance its AI video classification technology for safer online spaces. This funding, led by Creandum and joined by Paladin Capital Group and Plural, will help expand our team, advance R&D, and foster partnerships with major platforms. The goal is to address the increasing volumes of online content with AI, ensuring a safer digital experience and adherence to upcoming regulations like the UK's Online Safety Bill and the EU's Digital Services Act.

In the era of authenticity, consumers crave genuine connections with brands, fuelling the surge in influencer marketing. However, harnessing the power of user-generated content (UGC) carries both promise and peril for brand image. To successfully navigate these challenges, specialised tools that grasp the nuances and context of UGC are essential.

The implementation of watermarking for AI-generated content poses several challenges. This Deep Dive explores the complexities of watermarking for different media types, including images, audio, video, and text. And highlights the difficulties in creating robust watermarking techniques that can withstand various attacks.

Unitary's goal is to support safer and kinder online connections. Intimate exchanges can often have more than one meaning. Playful banter between consenting users could in certain cases be misclassified as harmful or vice versa. We believe these subtleties are important as they shape the quality of our online experiences.

How to set up and use an HPC Cluster to scale up ML experiments 🚀

We attended TrustCon - a conference dedicated to trust and safety professionals from around the globe who are responsible for keeping the internet safe. It was an invaluable learning experience and here are some key takeaways.

Deepfake detection often feels like a vicious cycle. As methods are developed to detect deepfakes, the AI systems generating content evolve and bad actors change tactics. And it's not long before the metrics and thresholds for detecting deepfakes become outdated. In this article we explore how Goodhart's law, 'when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure', can help us see things under a different light. 

As part of TrustCon2023 we had the privilege to organise a networking event titled 'Understanding the Mysteries of the Universe with Unitary.' Our CEO, Sasha Haco, gave a presentation on black holes and her experience of going from researching theoretical physics to co-founding an online safety AI startup.

In discussions about AI regulation, there has been relatively little of direct relevance to trust & safety. Most of the focus is on use by regulated organizations rather than misuse by platform users. However, as large platforms play increasingly significant roles in providing access to AI models, we might expect future regulatory efforts to more directly impact T&S.

Concerns about bias in social media content moderation have prompted the drafting of laws and the need for better explanations. Studies show users perceive automated moderation as more impartial with human oversight and that trust in AI moderation increases with transparency.

Unitary is proud to welcome global advertising leaders, Carolyn Everson and Meg Haley, to their team. They will support Unitary in expanding commercial partnerships and driving revenue opportunities.

Automated content moderation used to be an enterprise-only issue. But upcoming changes to the law mean that any content sharing platform needs to start paying closer attention to user-generated content.

Learn how artificial intelligence (AI) can help with brand safety and the challenges that generative AI can pose. Discover the advantages of using specialised AI algorithms for monitoring content and analysing contextual factors.

Find out how AI and machine learning are changing the online landscape and learn practical tips for dealing with deepfakes and misinformation.

Learn what computer vision and natural language processing are, and how they can be used together to help platforms better moderate content online. Discover why Unitary's AI-powered technology is the ultimate solution for online safety.

Take your brand safety strategy to the next level with Unitary’s unique Plug and Play solution. Without pre-training or extended deployment, you can gain pinpoint accuracy in areas where traditional object recognition fails. Learn how Unitary is revolutionising the world of content moderation for brand safety specialists.

Read the story behind Unitary's journey from startup to raising $8M in funding. Learn about our co-founders, company culture, and insights from our CEO and investors.

AI, Creativity and Exploring Foundation Models

We’ve all heard about the power and value of algorithms, but what is it exactly that makes multimodal algorithms so special?

Who is better at detecting inappropriate content – computers or humans? To answer this question we compare AI and humans on different levels, including scale, personal risk, cost, bias and context.

Advancements in AI, specifically multimodal algorithms present a new avenue for content moderation teams and brand safety experts. These powerful algorithms process the different modalities of each piece of content, which means they can understand context, accurately and at scale.

According to ChatGPT the future of brand safety and content moderation is not so bleak, however new strategies must be implemented

Working remotely offers employees the freedom to act on their curiosity and choose where they want to be. Location-independence is not only good for people, but also for the business.

Learn how to ensure brand safety with this conversation that explores evolving digital advertising and its implications for brand safety. Tim Finn, Head of Partnerships at Unitary, shares 20 years of adtech experience on content moderation & contextual ad targeting.

We interviewed a former TikTok policy manager to understand decision-making in a globally important platform, the role of social media in society, and our musings on what online platforms might look like both without any moderation at all and in a heavily moderated environment.

An in-depth report of the Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society (AIES) conference exploring diversity within this growing community. Learn what happens when you bring philosophers and computer scientists together to discuss AI ethics and more.

Learn how trust and safety professionals can create inclusive online spaces using artificial intelligence. Discover the complexities of building a safe, inclusive online environment for all users.

This June, the U.S. Chamber AI Commission hosted a field hearing in London (UK), to discuss global competitiveness, inclusion and innovation in relation to AI. To explore these topics, numerous key leaders in public policy, AI and innovation were invited, including Sasha Haco , CEO of Unitary.

In this interview with Captur's founder and CEO, Charlotte Bax, we explore how both computer vision and online safety challenges can show up in unexpected places. Learn more about the power of computer vision in daily operations!

The situation with algospeak is complex: a given word can have multiple meanings and can be used in a variety of contexts.

With UK Safer Internet Day approaching, take this online safety test to check if you can identify harmful content. How well do you know what’s appropriate for underage audiences? Put your skills to the test and see if you can identify online harm!

The issue of online toxicity is one of the most challenging problems on the internet today. We know it can amplify discord and discrimination, from racism and anti-semitism, to misogyny and homophobia. In some cases, toxic comments online can result in real life violence [1,2].

Online content is increasingly complex. Current solutions fail to address this complexity and do not work at scale. At Unitary we are deeply motivated by our mission to build visual understanding AI, which can be used to make the internet safer.