On April 6, 2016, Mark Zuckerburg released a new feature to be added to Facebook called Facebook Live.

A lot of celebrities have used Facebook Live to connect with their fans and give them a view into their awesome lives. A lot of my friends have also used this new feature as a way to virtually hang out with a group of people at once. Facebook Live not only lets you make real-time videos but as you do, anyone on your friend list can tune in and watch the video, like it and comment while it's playing. It seems like such an awesome, innovative idea and it was for the most part. Until, January 25, 2017, when 14-year-old Nakia Venant used Facebook Live to stream her suicide.

Unfortunately, the act of committing suicide and posting it online for all to see was nothing new. What makes this event different was the fact that it was happening in real time and despite being a two-hour long stream and only one of her friends had actually decided to call 911 after viewing the horrific video. A few weeks before her death, the live streaming of 12-yrar old Katelyn Nicole Davis was posted on Live.Me and shared on to Facebook. That become the inspiration behind Facebook's new idea of using their platform and the use of AI (Artifical Intelligence) to battle cyber suicide and stop them before they can occur.

Though certain suicide prevention tools have already been made available on Facebook for nearly a decade now, Mark Zuckerberg himself has realized that that hasn't been enough. There is more here that can be done.

So how will this be accomplished? It's simple. This new AI tool will look at users' Facebook posts and comments and use a fancy algorithm to determine whether the user(s) are battling depression and/or contemplating suicide. The algorithms will help to spot warning signs in users' posts as well as the comments that their friends may leave in response.

According to their Wordpress post, this new program will also provide the following:

• Integrated suicide prevention tools to help people in real time on Facebook Live
• Live chat support from crisis support organizations through Messenger.
• Streamlined reporting for suicide, assisted by artificial intelligence.

So, users that report suspicious activity or the live video itself will also be provided with resources to assist them in helping their friend. The person sharing the live video will also see a set of resources on their screen and they will have the chance to reach out to a friend or contact a helpline.

So, it would look a little something like this:

Sometimes when a person notices something different in another person, whether it's online or in person, they can be unsure of how to handle the situation. They might not have all the knowledge or the right voice to talk to them about it, so having this new tool will definitely be a starting point.

The new tools are currently being tested in the United States. No specific release date has been revealed as of yet, but do keep a look out.