AI App Offers A Lifeline For S.Africa s Abused Women

Zanele Sokatsha, centre, lead research for the GRIT job


She states she was breached by authorities. Now she's brainstorming an AI-integrated app with a panic button that signals personal security to help other ladies captured in South Africa's tragically high rates of abuse.


Peaches, as the 35-year-old sex worker asked to be recognized, is among the more than a 3rd of South African females that will experience physical or sexual assault in their life times, according to UN figures.


Slender and outspoken, she remained in a group of around 15 women who collected late January to workshop the most current upgrade of the app developed by the nonprofit GRIT (Gender Rights In Tech).


Equipped with an emergency button that deploys gatekeeper, a proof vault and a resource centre, the app will likewise 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 button that deploys security officers, users.atw.hu an an AI-driven chatbot


"This app, it's going to offer me that hope ... that my human rights ought to be thought about," Peaches told AFP, asking not to offer her real name to secure her safety.


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


That very same year, 5,578 women were killed, engel-und-waisen.de a 34 percent increase from the previous year.


In Peaches' case, she said she was required to offer 2 cops officers "services for totally free" to evade arrest for prostitution.


"To me, GRIT isn't simply a task-- it's a need," founder Leanora Tima informed AFP.


"I wanted to develop tech-driven solutions that empower survivors, ensuring they get the immediate aid, legal guidance and emotional assistance they need without barriers," Tima said.


- 'Roadblocks to assist' -


Many cases of gender-based violence (GBV) go unreported due to the fact that victims face preconception or wiki.philo.at are turned away by authorities, said GRIT lead researcher Zanele Sokatsha.


'There's a lot of obstructions still in getting gain access to and aid,' Sokatsha states


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


Thato, a female in her 30s, annunciogratis.net said she sustained years of physical abuse by her stepfather before she discovered aid was available.


An avid football gamer, she said her coach understood that "some contusions were not actually associated to football".


It was just when the coach took the group to an anti-GBV event in Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, that she discovered there were organisations that help women in her circumstance.


"It was really heartwarming for me to find such an area," she said, preferring to give only her given name.


GRIT's app aims to make it easier for women 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 submit evidence like photos, videos and police reports that will be safeguarded on GRIT's servers.


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


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


The app is free, photorum.eclat-mauve.fr funded by GRIT's donors consisting of the Gates Foundation and Expertise France. It already has 12,000 users.


Once downloaded, it can work without data, making it available to those who can not pay for phone strategies 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 integrated into certain social platforms, technical lead Lebogang Sindani said.


Zuzi was at first planned to provide only practical details, clashofcryptos.trade like how to obtain a defense order.


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


- 'All they know' -


Even if there are more services than ever to help women who are 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 supremacy, an absence of great good example and financial stresses, said Craig Wilkinson, creator of Father A Country.


"No kid is born an abuser," said Wilkinson, whose nonprofit focuses on reaching men. "There's something failing in the journey from boy to man."


"All they know is violence," said Sandile Masiza, a coordinator of the GBV Response Team for Johannesburg's kid welfare authority.


"We require more programs that are not simply going to be solely concentrated on victim assistance, but criminal avoidance," Masiza said.


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


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