Huang Zhisheng: Light up the lives of people with depression with AI

" that day, I sat alone by the river looking for short-sighted, more than 20 people sent me a message, concerned about my life and death. I was very moved, cried by the river for hours, and finally came back. After
a depressed patient sent a message to Huang Zhisheng, thanking the "tree cave rescue mission" warmth to give him the courage to live. As the initiator of the tree cave rescue operation, Huang Zhisheng can not remember how many times he received the patient's thank-you letter.
"I saw their pain and despair. Huang Zhisheng, a tenured professor at the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and a professor at capital medical university, has been studying artificial intelligence for more than 30 years, and in recent years he has tried to use artificial intelligence to find depressed people with suicidal thoughts and set up a "tree cave rescue mission". As of early August this year, the Tree Cave Rescue Corps had sent a "message of concern" to 1,436 people with suicidal tendencies, effectively preventing 662 suicides.
former British prime minister, who is suffering from depression, once said: "Depression is like a 'black dog', biting me at the first opportunity." Huang Zhisheng, on the other hand, used AI technology as a stick to banish the "black dog" in the minds of depressed people."I have depression, so I'm going to die, there's no big reason why people don't have to care about my departure." Bye bye. "In 2012, a Nanjing girl committed suicide due to depression, and this tweet from the Pippi Time Machine became a "tree hole" for many people. When the night is quiet, they come here to express their sorrow - "so tired", "want to die", "can't feel the world need" "want to lie on the grasslands, say goodbye to the world" ... Today, the tweet has more than 1.53 million comments.
March 2018, Huang Zhisheng read a story about "tree holes" online and found a large number of depressed people hiding in them. To see depressed people walking in the dark, Mr Huang has developed a "tree-hole robot" that can patrol large "tree holes" that are "hidden" on social media and automatically screen out people with apparent suicidal tendencies. From 001 to 004, the accuracy of the "tree hole robot" crawl data increased to 82%.
Huang Zhisheng developed a suicide risk rating standard, from 0 to 10, the higher the level, the higher the risk of suicide. "At level 6 or above, the robot will alert us and we'll intervene." Huang Zhisheng said.
10 o'clock every night, the robot formed an early warning notice was sent to Huang Zhisheng, after receiving the notification Huang Zhisheng will immediately organize rescue workers. "We can find about 10 people who are suicidal every day, but we can only save two or three people. Because of the lack of people, can not be saved. He said.
has been studying artificial intelligence in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for more than 30 years. Since 2008, his team has been collaborating with Chinese teams on research on semantic technology. With the deepening of research, Huang Zhisheng gradually set his sights on patients with depression. In a collaboration with Beijing Stable Hospital, affiliated with Capital Medical University, Huang Zhisheng came up with the idea of using artificial intelligence to identify people with depressive tendencies.
people don't understand Huang Zhisheng, "you can actually do hotter research, send better papers, or even make more money." But Huang Zhisheng said: "Seeing people who want to commit suicide, if you do not save, the heart will be very painful." There
room for improvement in the accuracy of the "tree hole robot" no. 004. "But I haven't had the idea of upgrading the robot yet. Technically valuable things may not be of great benefit to society. "For Mr Huang, it is better to spend more time and energy saving the discovered light-born than pursuing the accuracy of the robot's grasping data., a Shandong girl, suffered from depression caused by emotional frustration and tweeted at the end of April 2018 that she was going to kill herself by burning charcoal during May Day. Huang Zhisheng, who was preparing for the "Tree Cave Rescue Mission", was very anxious when he heard the news. He immediately set up a rescue team and launched his first rescue operation.
after a night of searching, the volunteers found Xiao Wu's contact information. While pacifying Xiao Wu's emotions, volunteers send flowers to Xiao Wu every week, chat with her and listen to her troubles. After a while, when the volunteer team thought Xiao Wu had improved and gave up suicidal thoughts, it learned the bad news - on June 17, 2018, Xiao Wu left the world for good by leaving the word "Bye Bye" on Weibo.
rescue operation only let Xiao Wu live 47 days, which became Huang Zhisheng's heart can not erase the sad memory. "She told me with her life that saving people was never easy. We felt that there were many stories behind her that had not been told. He said.
, a robot can only find people who want to live lightly, but what to do after discovery can ensure that they live strong, the robot can not give the answer. "Patients need long-term companionship, the love and attention of their families, and we need to listen to the real pain in them." He said.
, Huang Zhisheng gradually expanded the rescue team. The only first rescue team was the artificial intelligence technology team "alone", and now there are medical teams, psychological consultants and other people in the industry.
the patient to save, and the patient to become friends, is Huang Zhisheng later summed up the "way to save people." "Volunteers are always there when the patient's mood is broken." Huang Zhisheng said that the longest time for volunteers to accompany more than a year, many volunteers themselves to save the child called their own "tree hole baby."
, however, volunteers were "emotionally broken" because they were exposed to a lot of negative information throughout the day. In order to alleviate this pressure, Huang Zhisheng set up the Tree Cave Action Happy Camp and Tree Cave Care Center Group, in the group to encourage everyone to share "happy information, happy things."
said he had not collapsed, "perhaps because my heart is stronger." May this year, the "tree hole robot" monitored Gansu girl Xiaoqin on Weibo issued a "death invitation": "Does anyone want to jump the river together?" "In order to stop Xiaoqin, "Tree Cave Rescue Corps" volunteer Li teacher posing as a suicide, agreed to "go to death" with Xiaoqin, specifically to buy tickets to take the train to the place of jumping the river, and finally succeeded in preventing Xiaoqin and another boy's death action.
this is the "tree cave rescue mission" since the establishment of the largest number of participants in the rescue. Huang Zhisheng out of his own pocket to give Mr. Li reimbursement for round-trip tolls, but Mr. Li firmly do not accept: "Mr. Huang spends so much time and energy every day in the 'tree hole rescue mission', not a penny, how can I receive your money?" Last
, 17-year-old Xiao Huan, from Hubei Province, committed suicide with emotional problems and was found and stopped by the Tree Cave Rescue Corps. This year, Xiao Huan became a volunteer with the Tree Cave Rescue Corps.
"There are a lot of kids like Xiao Huan. If the patient is in stable condition, we will pull them into the WeChat group and let them resolve the pain of other patients through their own experiences. Huang Zhisheng said.
, a high school girl contacted Huang Zhisheng, want to become a "tree cave rescue mission" volunteers. Huang Zhisheng refused her: "You are still a high school student, no." As a result, the persistent girl called Huang Zhisheng on the first day after the college entrance examination: "Mr. Huang, I finished the college entrance examination, no longer a high school student!" You let me become a volunteer, I also want to save people! "
made Huang Zhisheng very moved." I see the bright side of society, a group of warm and pure people with you to save helpless lives. "
" but the matter of saving people is also risky, sometimes may not be successful, and sometimes may be misunderstood or even rejected. Huang Zhisheng said, "But compared to saving a life, these questions do not matter." As
August 2019, there were more than 500 people in the Tree Cave Rescue Mission. And this growing force, Huang Zhisheng adhere to the biggest motivation. patient once described himself as severely depressed: Do you know how painful I am? I was like my hands and feet tied up and thrown into the sea, constantly sinking, sinking, the pressure of the sea constantly superimposed on my chest, pressure I can not breathe, all the way to the deep sea.
, more than half of the estimated 250,000 suicides a year are depression. In terms of time, almost every 20 seconds a person commits suicide due to depression. Huang Zhisheng said:
'Tree Cave Rescue Mission' the biggest wish is to let people with depression feel that there are still people in the world to care for him, while telling the world that depression is really a disease." "
" depression, like cancer, is a disease. The difference is that cancer patients often evoke sympathy, depression patients often have to bear the inexplicable or even contempt around. "Huang Zhisheng felt pain, many people feel that depressed patients are "emotional" "eat enough nothing to do" "think about" "pretend" ...
Huang Zhisheng hopes that more people will pay attention to the stories of people suffering from depression, and that more caring people will join the "Tree Cave Rescue Operation". "It doesn't matter if you can't save people, at least don't say anything that hurts them." He said.
many people invited Huang Zhisheng to start classes, and even an online hospital came to the door, hoping to promote drugs and psychological counseling services to depression patients online through AI technology. Huang Zhisheng refused: "Depression patients are already very difficult, can not do this kind of thing." In
, in addition to understanding and respect, people with depression need the care and company of their families most. Many people with depression have a sick family behind them, and because of a lack of care, they think they don't deserve to live in the world. "
" please keep your inner light, because you don't know who will take this out of the darkness. Towards the end of the interview, Huang Zhisheng called on more people to join the Tree Cave Rescue Mission.
(the names of patients with depression, volunteers, and recipients are all adn names)