Call of Duty is joining the growing number of video games that are taking a firm stance on combatting toxicity in their game, only they are doing it by using AI to listen to your in-game voice chat, and that starts today.
Activision has announced that they’ve partnered with Modulate, a company known for its proprietary voice moderation tool, ToxMod, to bring that tool into Modern Warfare 2, Warzone 2, and the upcoming Modern Warfare 3.
According to Activision, ToxMod will be able to identify toxic behaviour in real-time and issue reports based on hate speech, discriminatory language, harassment and more.
Those fearing that giving an AI bot such godly powers will lead to unwarranted punishment don’t have to worry, at least according to Activision. The bot is set up to observe, listen and report – not punish. That step will still be in the hands of Activision.
“Call of Duty’s Voice Chat Moderation system only submits reports about toxic behaviour, categorized by its type of behaviour and a rated level of severity based on an evolving model. Activision determines how it will enforce voice chat moderation violations.”
ToxMod will also look for more than just keyword violations. The Modulate tool is unique from similar ones thanks to its ability to accurately analyze the tone of voice and intent to flag what is and isn’t toxic by being able to distinguish, accurately, between actual malic and joking around with friends.
Modulate said that its language model has spent hours listening to speech from people with various backgrounds. While it doesn’t detect or identify the ethnicity of individual speakers, it does listen to conversational cues to determine how others in the conversation react to certain words.
An example of this put forward by Modulate is:
“While the n-word is considered a vile slur, many players who identify as black or brown have reclaimed it and use it positively within their communities… If someone says the n-word and clearly offends others in the chat, that will be rated much more severely than what appears to be reclaimed usage that is incorporated naturally into a conversation.”
ToxMod will go live in some countries today and will be rolled out worldwide with the launch of Modern Warfare 3 on the 10th of November.
What are your thoughts on AI essentially moderating voice chat? Let us know in the comments.