The ascendance and popularity of social media created new spaces for conflicts to take place and a tough challenge for conflict resolution professionals. Nonetheless, latest developments in artificial intelligence and automation might offer an adequate solution. By translating human online mediation capacities into automated bots, it would be possible to mitigate unlimited number of violent conversations on social media platforms. Utilizing natural language understanding and creating a dataset of mitigative text and image responses to toxic statements, the “mediation bots” will act as human mediators and counter online conflicts and disputes.
This research proposal "Online Mediation – from Human to Intelligent Machine Intervention" will aim to explore the feasibility of using advanced automated systems to counter different types of online violence.
Arik Segal is an international mediator and founder of “Conntix” – a consultancy that aims to connect people through innovation and technology. Arik is a lecturer in Israeli academic institutions and teaches about the intersection of conflict resolution, technology and diplomacy.