Bratislava, Slovakia-based Elv.ai, a startup that’s making a significant impact in the fight against cyberhate and the spread of misinformation, announced on Monday that it has secured €500k funding from the Slovak CB ESPRI Impact One fund, which focuses on projects with measurable positive social benefits.
By combining the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and human moderators, elv.ai is making the internet a safer space for debate.
With recent funding, the Slovakian company is expanding its mission to protect the credibility of media and public institutions on social networks.
Elv.ai has launched its product in the Czech Republic, where it protects discussions and social networks of Prima TV and the Economia publishing house.
Since its launch in Slovakia, elv.ai has recorded over 2,500,000 hateful or disinformation comments out of more than 16,000,000 and has identified over 5,000 fake profiles.
In the Czech Republic, out of more than 2 million monitored comments on 44 profiles, up to 504,000 were hateful content, which is 24 per cent.
“We perceive that the media space has changed significantly and that the need to protect online discussions and social networks from hatred is growing. In our native Slovakia, we monitor and moderate the discussions of roughly one-third of the media market and help several major institutions that want to control the posts of their online discussions: without misinformation, hoaxes, or hate speech,” says Jakub Šuster, co-founder and CEO of elv.ai.
“We are pleased that even in the Czech Republic, we have quickly found conscious media houses that consider it their duty to protect their fans and users from hateful and misinformation content,” says Šuster.
Elv.ai: Mitigating cyberhate through AI and human moderators
The rise of cyberhate and the spread of misinformation have posed significant challenges in today’s digital landscape.
As a result, Elv.ai has taken responsibility for moderating online discussions and social networks to protect against hate speech.
Elv.ai was founded by Jakub Šuster, Gabriel Tóth, Ľudovít Ďurman, and Milan Dubec, in response to hybrid warfare and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Originally founded as a non-profit project by the Slovak communications agency New School Communications, elv.ai was established to filter hate content and protect online discussions.
The demand for such a service became apparent, leading to the creation of a separate startup dedicated to developing its own AI tool for text analysis.
Today, elv.ai relies on a combination of technology and human factors.
By utilising machine learning and human moderators, elv.ai can accurately identify and remove inappropriate and hateful content promptly.
The dynamics and context of language often require human intervention to recognise linguistic nuances that technology may overlook.
Because of the dynamics and context of language, it uses machine learning and human moderators who control the AI and recognise possible linguistic nuances not picked up by technology.
The result is the transparent removal of inappropriate and hateful content in the shortest possible time.
Renowned Slovak media and public institutions currently use the tool.
Among the largest are the television stations Markíza and JOJ, the radio stations Expres and Evropa 2, and the online magazine Refresher. elv.ai currently manages control over the content of discussions of more than 100 profiles for 30 clients, including Slovakian social media of the European Commission.
New clients in the Czech Republic include Prima TV and the Economia publishing house.
“We decided to invest in elv.ai because we believe that cultivating the online space improves the social atmosphere as a whole. As an impact fund, we are interested in the financial return and the positive impact on society. We welcome efforts to use technology to mitigate misinformation content on social media, which should serve to connect people, not spread hate. We see the potential of the elv.ai tool not only in the Czech and Slovak markets but also elsewhere in the European market," says Miroslav Beblavý, CEO of the CB ESPRI Impact One Fund.
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