Tennis stars use AI to prevent social media abuse at French Open: NPR

Sloane Stephens of the United States plays against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during their French Open tennis fourth round match at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, Sunday, June 4, 2023.

Thibault Camus/AP

hide caption

change the caption

Thibault Camus/AP

Sloane Stephens of the United States plays against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during their French Open tennis fourth round match at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, Sunday, June 4, 2023.

Thibault Camus/AP

The barrage of hateful comments online for American tennis star Sloane Stephens is endless.

“My whole career, it’s never stopped. If anything, it’s only gotten worse,” he said. After winning the first round of the Paris French Open.

“I’ve got a lot of keywords banned on Instagram and all that stuff, but that doesn’t stop someone from just writing the asterisk or writing it differently, which the software doesn’t seem to catch most of the time.” he added.

But now the tournament organizers are offers players a tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to prevent such abuse from reaching their social media feeds.

French company Bodyguard.ai’s technology is more advanced than the basic keyword filters used by Stephens. The application can consider who the comment is directed to and recognize the meaning behind the message.

“AI is much more complex in that it understands context,” Matthieu Boutard, founder of Bodyguard.ai, told NPR. “So it’s a very different ball game.”

And if there’s a ball game that needs this protection, it’s tennis, according to Boutard.

“It’s an individual sport,” he said. “So if you lose the game, it’s your fault. You’re very exposed because a lot of people bet on sports and especially tennis, which means a lot of haters will come after you if you lose a point or lose a set or if you lose a game.”

What about the people who should hear the public criticism?

However, free speech advocates are concerned about technology that screens comments before they are allowed to be published.

That could lead to something like “preemptive restraint,” where the government prevents someone from exercising their right to free speech, said Kate Klonick, a professor at St. John’s University in New York.

While the stakes may be low for tennis players, Klonick noted, he wondered how those for whom public criticism might be warranted might use it.

“You can imagine how something like Bodyguard.ai could prevent a lot of politicians or public figures or people who maybe it’s important to see some of the criticism leveled at them, from seeing that kind of public reaction,” he said.

Boutard said his technology is not used in this way.

“We’re not removing the criticism, we’re removing the toxicity,” he said. “The line is actually pretty clear. If you start insulting, being racist, attacking a player, using body shaming, that’s not criticism, and it’s actually toxic to the player.”

Boutard added that it seems to be working, as the technology found that about 10% of comments directed at players were toxic. The app removed 95 percent of them.

The top player wants to see the joy brought back on social media

Iga Swiatek of Poland plays a stroke against Coco Gauff of the United States during the quarterfinals of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

Christophe Ena/AP

hide caption

change the caption

Christophe Ena/AP

Iga Swiatek of Poland plays a stroke against Coco Gauff of the United States during the quarterfinals of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

Christophe Ena/AP

The app has received praise from top tennis players, such as women’s world number one Iga Swiatek, who uses it.

He used to check what people thought of his matches after tournaments, he told reporters his first press conference of the year French Open.

“I stopped doing it because even though I had, I don’t know, two tournaments — I won one and I was in the finals of one — I went on social media and people were unhappy,” Swiatek said. “I realized there’s no point in reading all that. So the app, I think it’s a great idea.”

Swiatek, who recently secured his place in the semi-finals of the French Openhopes it can bring joy back to social media.

“It’s just sad to see that the thing that was supposed to make us happy and make us social is giving us more negative feelings and negative thoughts,” he said. “So, I think apps like this help us use social media and not worry about it.”

The audio version of this song was edited by Jan Johnson. The digital story was edited by Lisa Lambert.