JULIE CORDUA: Thorn is
focused on building technology
to end online
child sexual abuse.
Google.org has been our
partner from almost inception
of this organization.
One of the most brilliant
things about this partnership
is that we went to them
with an idea, an idea
that technology could
radically transform the way we
respond to child sexual abuse.
And they invested.
And they said, let's try it.
Let's see what we can do.
CHELSEA SEABRON: At Google.org
we bring the best of Google
to nonprofits tackling some
of the world's toughest
challenges.
Our grantees often
tell us that one
of our most valuable
resources here at Google
is the support and advice
from our volunteer Googlers.
But our grantees,
they're solving
really complex problems.
So we wondered, how
could we do even more?
We're so excited to
share that we have since
created the Google.org
Fellowship, a pro bono program
that matches Googlers
with nonprofits
for up to six months
of full-time work.
JULIE CORDUA: And while
child sexual abuse
is a human problem, the growth
rate and the normalization
and the democratization of
abuse is a technical problem.
And these children deserve
the best and brightest minds
and technology working
on their behalf.
When we look at child sex
trafficking in the United
States, we're talking
about 150,000 escort ads
posted every single day.
So the problem is when you have
that massive amount of data,
how do you sift through
all of that data
to pinpoint the most vulnerable?
JULIAN BHARADWAJ: So my
role inside the Fellowship
was that of a data
scientist, slash analyst,
slash general data guy.
That meant taking the vast
amounts of data that they had
and beating it down
to some shape and form
that our engineers could
actually use and then build
some experimental
models and evaluation
metrics on top of that.
BRIA KING: I was excited to have
the Google.org Fellows join us,
because we are a
very small team.
We didn't really
have the opportunity
to experiment with
our data currently
in a way that would have allowed
us to determine if this was
something that we would
even be able to do and be
able to provide to
law enforcement.
JULIAN BHARADWAJ: I
have learned so much,
because we worked at this very
accelerated and really well
joined team.
We tried and failed so many
times in the beginning.
I have learned so much more.
There is also the component
of working so closely
with an engineer.
I've learned so much more
about their challenges.
It was really amazing to see
people that have dedicated
their lives and said, this
really difficult problem
is what I'm going to focus on.
It was working with those people
that I'll remember the most.
