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Google Combats ISIS through Limiting Related Search Results

Google Combats ISIS through Limiting Related Search Results
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Google Combats ISIS through Limiting Related Search Results

Google Combats ISIS through Limiting Related Search Results

The spokesman for the global coalition to defeat ISIS announced that May witnessed a drop of 92 percent in Twitter links that take users to pro-ISIS websites.

He told al-Hurra television on Friday that the coalition had set up a hashtag on Twitter aimed at directing users to ways to inform officials of any pro-ISIS content.

The hashtag explains that users are capable of defeating ISIS through the click of a button. If a user sees any ISIS content, they should click on the associated hashtag icon and they will be presented with a guide on how to counter the content.

The same method can be applied to Facebook.

Last week, Google unveiled new technology aimed at decreasing the user access to terrorist videos posted on the internet. This technology was a result of efforts by social media giants Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, which is owned by Google.

A YouTube spokesman explained that when people usually search for a specific video on YouTube, they write a keyword or a number of keywords into a search engine. What usually happens is that the desired video appears in the results. According to the new technology however, a short video about terrorism and terrorists appears in the results in order to warn the user against heading to a certain website or viewing a certain video.

He said that a redirect video appears when a user searches for terrorist or terror-linked videos.

This technology was used to combat racism on YouTube, he revealed. This same method could also be used in the war against terrorism.

In March, several major US companies withdrew their ads from YouTube in protest against it allowing racist, sexual and unethical videos from being posted on its platform. These companies included telecommunications giant Verizon and medical product heavyweight Johnson and Johnson.

The new technology was however criticized by free speech organizations. Executive Director of the Washington-based Center for Digital Democracy Jeff Chester said it was clear that ad companies are exploiting the war against violence, discrimination and terrorism to influence content on social media. This means that the credibility and neutrality of these sites is affected.

Google, on the other hand, considered that searching for principles of Islam could lead the user to sites connected to hate groups that promote violence instead of tolerance. The company therefore became meticulous in displaying results linked to Islam in order to prevent the promotion of wrong information about the religion. This will help limit misinterpretations of the religion, including its teachings on jihad and Sharia.

Several users, especially western ones, connect Islam to terrorist crimes, even though several Muslims in the West are often the victims of racist and hate crimes.

Google relied on mathematical algorithms to assess the search results and determine whether they are offensive to religion or not. If so, the search engine would prevent the display of the offensive websites in the search results. Users had in the past come across numerous websites that are filled with incorrect information on religion when using, for example, “jihad” and “Sharia” in keyword searches.

In addition, Google altered its autofill service, wherein in the past when a user typed in “does Islam…” in the search box, the autofill technology in the past would have completed the inquiry with “… permit terrorism?” The autofill result of “do Muslim women … need saving?” is also now a thing of the past with the new Google technology.

Google had adopted this same approach in combating discrimination against Christianity and Judaism.

Last week, YouTube implemented a new method of countering terrorism by redirecting users searching for violent and extremist content towards anti-ISIS videos. Aimed at targeting terrorist thought before its inception, instead of displaying ISIS videos, the user is shown a video of former ISIS members recounting the details of their ordeal when they were part of the terrorist group. They are also redirected to discussions by religious figures, speaking against extremist ideology.

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Riyadh to Host Global Security and Technology Summit in December 2026

The agenda also includes the SAIIF global security and technology innovation competition to be held in Riyadh from November 19-21 - SPA
The agenda also includes the SAIIF global security and technology innovation competition to be held in Riyadh from November 19-21 - SPA
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Riyadh to Host Global Security and Technology Summit in December 2026

The agenda also includes the SAIIF global security and technology innovation competition to be held in Riyadh from November 19-21 - SPA
The agenda also includes the SAIIF global security and technology innovation competition to be held in Riyadh from November 19-21 - SPA

Under the patronage of Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, the Ministry of Interior will organize the Global Security and Technology Summit (GSTS) in Riyadh from December 18-20, 2026, in partnership with Tuwaiq Academy.

Minister of Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz expressed gratitude to the Crown Prince for his patronage, noting that it reflects the leadership's commitment to enhancing the security ecosystem and enabling digital transformation across national, regional, and international security sectors, SPA reported.

The summit will feature specialized programs, knowledge sessions, and technical workshops covering cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, smart surveillance technologies, and crisis management, bringing together government entities, the private sector, and academic institutions.

The agenda also includes the SAIIF global security and technology innovation competition, to be held in Riyadh from November 19-21, 2026, with prizes valued at SAR5 million, focusing on AI, cybersecurity, and digital transformation in the security sector.

Technology

AI Robot Cleaners Leave the Lab for China's Living Rooms

The service is a baby step towards a future in which robots increasingly take over manual labor from humans. WANG Zhao / AFP
The service is a baby step towards a future in which robots increasingly take over manual labor from humans. WANG Zhao / AFP
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AI Robot Cleaners Leave the Lab for China's Living Rooms

The service is a baby step towards a future in which robots increasingly take over manual labor from humans. WANG Zhao / AFP
The service is a baby step towards a future in which robots increasingly take over manual labor from humans. WANG Zhao / AFP

Beijing cleaner Lin Meiqiong found her work a little easier the day she was paired with an unlikely new colleague -- a tall, wheeled robot with AI-powered tidying skills.

The 56-year-old and her white-and-silver partner, fitted with cameras and two mechanical claws, are part of a new human-robot cleaning service offered by Chinese household help platform 58.com.

It's a baby step towards a future espoused by tech evangelists in which robots increasingly take over manual labor from humans -- though at the moment, such services are largely a data-gathering exercise for companies and a novelty for curious customers.

"It's definitely different," Lin told AFP in between cleaning the kitchen and wiping down windows.

"I used to have to do everything myself," she said. "It's reduced the workload a bit."

The cleaning service, a collaboration between 58.com and Chinese robotics company X Square, costs 149 yuan ($22) for three hours and is available in Beijing and tech hub Shenzhen.

Helped into the apartment by an X Square engineer, the AI-operated Quanta X1 Pro robot uses its cameras to identify areas it could spruce up.

As Lin scrubbed the floor on her knees, it picked up rubbish and folded clothes strewn across a sofa.

Grasping a pair of dark grey trousers, it raised its upper body to stretch the fabric taut, before laying it flat and arranging it into neat halves.

The process took several minutes and resembled a child learning to fold clothes for the first time.

Future iterations of the robot will respond to voice commands and even be able to chat, said the engineer, Hu Bowen.

- 'Better than a lab' -

Around 200 households have booked the service since it was rolled out in March.

Tan Pei, who works in advertising and booked the robot to clean her Beijing flat, said she had chosen the service because she was interested to "see what it could do".

"Even though it's not that perfect, there are still parts of it that surprised me," such as folding a pair of trousers "quite well", she said.

China's robots have wowed audiences with fluid dancing and set-piece martial arts displays onstage, but their application and performance in real-life settings remains limited.

For companies like X Square, the logic of launching an imperfect service lies in data collection for so-called embodied artificial intelligence.

Unlike large language models trained on vast quantities of internet content, robots lack comparable real-world datasets.

"We don't have a robot internet yet," Christoforos Mavrogiannis from the University of Michigan told AFP.

"It is much more informative to put the robot out there and study what happens than staying forever in the lab."

X Square engineer Hu said he sends his robots to work in a "completely unfamiliar environment".

"That is very challenging, but this unfamiliar data is also very helpful for the robot's growth."

As investment into embodied AI booms, similar trials in China include robots directing traffic in cities like Hangzhou or working on factory floors.

On the domestic help front, firm GigaAI also plans to deploy 100 humanoid robots into households in central Wuhan this autumn for free home-service trials.

Investors have poured more than 57.7 billion yuan ($8.5 billion) into China's embodied AI industry so far this year, already soaring past the total for last year as a whole, according to business database ITjuzi.

- 'Very elementary stage' -

But a myriad of hurdles stand in the way of widespread deployment.

As the Quanta X1 Pro's clothes folding demonstrated, robots still can't match human dexterity.

"Even though many companies are working on building better hands and building autonomy for hands, we don't have that yet," the University of Michigan's Mavrogiannis said.

There are multiple regulatory issues even once the physical capability is there.

Privacy will become a big issue, as robots would have access to huge amounts of personal data.

"We don't know where that data is going, where it's located... who is looking at that information," said Valeria Alessandra Macalupu Chira from Queensland University of Technology.

The safety of clients and their homes is another unresolved issue.

"I think we are still at a very elementary stage," said Yang Jianfei from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

Robots currently require supervision by humans who can activate emergency stop functions, he noted, and there are not yet recognized industry-wide safety standards.

Experts agree broad adoption seems a long way off.

Asked whether she thought robots would revolutionize her industry, cleaner Lin did not seem too concerned.

"Compared with people, it's obviously still not quite there," she said. "After all, it's a robot."

Technology

Saudi Arabia Participates in GPAI Paris Meeting for First Time as Member

Saudi Arabia Participates in GPAI Paris Meeting for First Time as Member
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Saudi Arabia Participates in GPAI Paris Meeting for First Time as Member

Saudi Arabia Participates in GPAI Paris Meeting for First Time as Member

Saudi Arabia, represented by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), participated for the first time as a member of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) during the partnership’s fifth plenary meeting, held at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris from June 9–11, the Saudi Press Agency said on Thursday.

The event brought together member countries, experts, and AI policymakers from around the world to discuss the future of artificial intelligence and international cooperation in the field.

The Kingdom was represented at the meeting by Rehab Alarfaj, General Manager of Strategic Partnerships and Indices at SDAIA, who participated in sessions and discussions focused on AI governance, the implementation of the OECD AI Principles, and the future direction of the GPAI’s work.

Alarfaj stressed the importance of developing practical tools to translate AI principles into actionable, real-world applications. These tools should account for differences in national priorities and levels of institutional maturity among countries, while ensuring the principles remain globally consistent and locally applicable.