SafeScreen: Prioritizing Safety Over Engagement in Video Recommendations

In an age where open-domain video platforms like YouTube provide seemingly endless streams of content, it's easy to get lost in the sea of recommendations. However, these platforms often prioritize engagement over safety, posing significant risks, particularly for vulnerable users. Enter SafeScreen, a novel framework designed to fundamentally shift how videos are recommended, emphasizing safety as the primary criterion.

The Framework Explained

At its core, SafeScreen is a safety-first video screening mechanism that diligently evaluates whether content meets individualized safety constraints before it's shown. Unlike traditional algorithms that rank videos based on relevance or popularity, SafeScreen follows a more cautious approach. It applies a sequential approval or rejection process to each video, ensuring safety is considered first and foremost.

SafeScreen comprises three main components: it uses profile-driven extraction to determine safety criteria tailored to individual users, employs evidence-grounded assessments, and leverages LLM-based decision-making to verify the safety, appropriateness, and relevance of content. This design isn't only innovative but also practical, providing real-time screening capabilities without depending on precomputed labels.

Case Study: Dementia Care

The effectiveness of SafeScreen was put to the test in a dementia-care reminiscence setting, using 30 synthetic patient profiles and 90 test queries. The results were striking, as SafeScreen diverged from YouTube's engagement-optimized rankings in 80-93% of cases. This isn't just a slight deviation. it's a significant shift, offering a more sensible and grounded approach to content selection.

In a world where algorithms often act as black boxes, SafeScreen stands out by providing explainable decisions. It's not merely about filtering out inappropriate content but ensuring that every piece of media aligns with the user's unique needs, particularly in environments where safeguarding vulnerable groups is important.

Why This Matters

One might wonder: why does this shift in content prioritization matter? The answer lies in the inherent responsibility of platforms to protect their users. are clear, when technology can harm, it must be harnessed in ways that prevent such harm. SafeScreen represents a step towards responsible AI deployment, offering a blueprint for future systems that value user safety over mere engagement metrics.

Everyone, from tech developers to caregivers, should pay attention. As AI continues to weave itself deeper into the fabric of content delivery, should we not prioritize safety as fervently as innovation? SafeScreen makes a compelling case for this argument, suggesting that safety-centric frameworks could redefine the relationship between user and machine.