AI App Offers a Lifeline For S.Africa's Abused Women - 242

Zanele Sokatsha, centre, lead research for the GRIT project

She states she was violated by cops. Now she's brainstorming an AI -integrated app with a panic button that informs personal security to assist other ladies caught in South Africa's unfortunately high rates of abuse.

Peaches, asteroidsathome.net as the 35-year-old sex worker asked to be identified, is amongst the more than a third of South African women that will or sexual abuse in their lifetimes, according to UN figures.

Slender and outspoken, she remained in a group of around 15 females who collected late January to workshop the most current update of the app developed by the not-for-profit GRIT (Gender Rights In Tech).

Equipped with an emergency situation button that releases security officers, an evidence vault and setiathome.berkeley.edu a resource centre, the app will also include an AI -driven chatbot called Zuzi that will be showcased at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris this month.

The app has an emergency situation button that deploys security officers, an an AI-driven chatbot

"This app, it's going to provide me that hope ... that my human rights ought to be considered," Peaches informed AFP, asking not to give her genuine name to secure her security.

There were more than 53,000 sexual offenses reported in South Africa in 2023-24, consisting of more than 42,500 rapes, according to authorities figures.

That exact same year, 5,578 women were murdered, a 34 percent increase from the previous year.

In Peaches' case, she said she was forced to offer two policemans "services totally free" to evade arrest for prostitution.

"To me, GRIT isn't just a task-- it's a requirement," creator Leanora Tima informed AFP.

"I wanted to create tech-driven options that empower survivors, guaranteeing they get the urgent aid, legal assistance and emotional assistance they require without barriers," Tima said.

- 'Roadblocks to assist' -

Many cases of gender-based violence (GBV) go unreported because victims deal with stigma or allmy.bio are turned away by authorities, said GRIT lead scientist Zanele Sokatsha.

'There's a great deal of obstructions still in getting gain access to and aid,' Sokatsha says

"There's a lot of roadblocks still in getting gain access to and aid," she said.

Thato, a lady in her 30s, said she sustained years of physical abuse by her stepfather before she found aid was available.

An avid football player, she said her coach understood that "some swellings were not in fact related to football".

It was just when the coach took the group to an anti-GBV occasion in Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, that she found out there were organisations that assist females in her situation.

"It was actually heartwarming for me to find such a space," she said, preferring to offer just her very first name.

GRIT's app aims to make it simpler for ladies to gain access to resources from their homes, where much of the abuse happens.

It has a map of close-by centers and shelters and a digital vault where they can upload evidence like pictures, videos and authorities reports that will be secured on GRIT's servers.

The functions are based on user feedback gathered at workshops around the country.

"It will conserve lives," said one lady at the same workshop gone to by Peaches.

The app is free, funded by GRIT's donors including the Gates Foundation and Expertise France. It currently has 12,000 users.

Once downloaded, it can work without data, making it available to those who can not afford phone plans or remain in backwoods with restricted networks.

The chatbot Zuzi, to be launched in the coming months, will be available on the app and likewise incorporated into certain social platforms, technical lead Lebogang Sindani said.

Zuzi was at first intended to provide only useful details, like how to obtain a protection order.

But its collection has been widened after feedback "that individuals are more thinking about speaking to Zuzi about ... intimate things" like their health, Sindani said.

- 'All they know' -

Even if there are more services than ever to assist ladies who are assaulted and strong public condemnation of cases that make it to the media, South Africa's abuse rates remain stubbornly high.

It is "an ideal storm" of a complex history of colonisation and partition, belief in male dominance, an absence of good good example and financial tensions, said Craig Wilkinson, creator of Father A Country.

"No young boy is born an abuser," said Wilkinson, timeoftheworld.date whose not-for-profit focuses on reaching guys. "There's something failing in the journey from boy to male."

"All they understand is violence," said Sandile Masiza, a coordinator of the GBV Response Team for Johannesburg's child well-being authority.

"We need more programs that are not just going to be solely focused on victim assistance, but perpetrator prevention," Masiza said.

"Society has actually normalised violence against women and girls," UN Women GBV specialist Jennifer Acio informed AFP.

"That's why we keep sharing details and trying to empower females ... to know what is an abuse of their rights, to know when to report."