[Partner Challenge] Online Safety Prize Challenge by AI Singapore

In the digital age, the proliferation of harmful online content, particularly memes, poses a significant challenge. Existing hate speech detection systems, primarily text-based, struggle to effectively tackle the complex nature of memes, which combine images and text. The urgency of addressing this issue is underscored by initiatives like Meta’s Hateful Meme Challenge.

In Singapore’s diverse context, the challenge is heightened by localized meme content, including Singlish, various regional languages, and specific cultural references. This necessitates the development of sophisticated, multi-lingual, and context-aware detection systems capable of interpreting such nuanced content. These technologies must be globally applicable and finely tuned to local cultural intricacies, a critical step in preventing the escalation of online hate and ensuring the stability and cohesion of diverse communities. Research must prioritise creating systems adept at handling the multifaceted nature of harmful memes, particularly in low-resource environments.

AI Singapore is excited to launch the Online Safety Prize Challenge, a 10-week competition that aims to advance AI research in developing multimodal, multilingual, and zero-shot models. These models are expected to discern effectively between benign and harmful memes, focusing on the diverse and nuanced Singaporean digital landscape. Our goal is to foster safer online interactions worldwide, particularly in regions with limited data on harmful content.