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A gif showing slurs with symbols which change to SHH and then SHHOR and then the hand of reistance logo rises

Shh the Hate; Amplify Love.


ShhorAI is a high-end AI-powered bot
combating hate speech on social media, with a
special focus on Indian vernacular languages and
marginalized community safety. We are India's first content moderation SAAS API for business platforms built for Indian markets.


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people

is why Shhor came into being. So, let people, tell our story

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Watercolour painting of a Disabled woman, in short hair, magenta shirt and blue jeans
Ah, the Internet. How it has impacted lives! Access to the Internet has decentralized the power to express to everyone 🥰 Be it a starry-eyed farmer, busting a move on Tiktok, or a mom reigniting her career through her cooking Youtube channel...
or... even a closeted queer teen finding a loving community through their poetry on Facebook🌈 The Internet gave us that voice, fam. A chance to dream beyond the shackles of our physical reality.
Watercolour painting of a Non-binary person in a T-shirt with rainbow stripes that reads LOVE IS REVOLUTION
Watercolor painting of a Tripuri Mother carrying her child with her head-band, wearing traditional ria-pachda
But but… is it really this utopian? With people of diverse backgrounds, coming in one space, clashes are inevitable😐 Soon, it became easier to forget that there are real vulnerable people behind those lil' usernames. Hate found its way in, often targetting the marginalized😞
Lemme tell you the story of Aindriya. Aindriya's a queer Adivasi neurodivergent AI Engineer & artist from a remote village in the tiniest north-east Indian state, Tripura. Like many of us, they found their fierce voice in political art on social media, slaying oppression like a true kween✨ As they earned love, so did they find a wave of hate😓
Watercolour painting of a Trans-woman in a green saree
Watercolour painting of an old Punjabi woman in protest, wearing yellow and green churidar
Oh haan! I read about them too. All that abuse deeply affected their mental health, pushing them into a dark place. Despite it all, they stood up again. Refusing to be silenced, they hatched an idea💡: To build a hate speech detection & removal AI bot!
But that wasn't easy da. Even social media giants struggle with it, you know? You see, when we report clearly offensive content in the apps, it often remains untouched😣 Why? Well, most reporting systems were not trained in our languages, but only in major Western languages.
Watercolour painting of a Malayali girl in traditional Pattupapavada attire
Watercolour painting of a chubby woman in bikini and ripped shorts
Damn! That makes sense yaar. Accha now, 2 major hurdles stood Aindriya's way: 1. Code-mixing 2. Low Resource Language
Arey wait wait don't get intimidated. Lemme explain...

First Roadblocks

"You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise."

-Maya Angelou

Code-mixing

Code-mixing is common in developing countries where we use English keyboard to type in our native languages creating a complex language with variable spellings and pronunciation, unknown to existing tools. Banning abusive words gets tricky as abusers can use varied spellings.

That's where AI comes in, AI understands the context of sentences, identifying hateful essence beyond fixed rules. Most abuse in Indian social media is in Hinglish- code-mixed Hindi-English.

Low-Resource Language

AI requires a significant amount of training data to excel at its job.

Tagged data for Indian languages is already scarce. No good data was directly available.

Aindriya had to take up on the huge task of manually building a vast repository of Hinglish comments, correctly tagged as hate or not, to train the AI.

So now, Aindriya had to build this dataset. They weaponized the abuse they & their fellow marginalized activists & artists were receiving. Through an Instagram post, they invited others to share links to their own posts where they were targeted. Aindriya created a scraper to automatically collect these hate-comments. Little did the trolls know, they were unwittingly empowering Aindriya to dismantle their own systemic oppression. LOL!
Watercolour painting of a pregnant lady with a laptop and in business attire
Watercolour painting of a Disabled woman, in short hair, magenta shirt and blue jeans
Ab, Aindriya faced the daunting task of manually reading & marking thousands of ugly comments as hate or not, & further categorizing them. The task was ginormous. But so was Aindriya's determination. They knew ke bhayi they couldn't tag thousands of comments themself. Toh Aindriya reached out to their allies on Insta.
Soon, support started pouring in. Hence they mobilized & created a community of about 45 volunteers from down-trodden backgrounds with lived experiences to understand the hate. I am one of them too. We all marched ahead, following Aindriya's guidelines, with a shared dream- 🌻A SAFER INTERNET FOR ALL🌻
Watercolour painting of a bald dalit man with a blue T-shirt that reads EDUCATE, AGITATE, ORGANISE
Till now, they have accumulated India's most extensive Hinglish real-world dataset of 40k+ comments, & used it on first-of-its-kind research. Using the data they trained a high-end AI model. Aindriya's groundbreaking work won them acclaim from around the world 🌍 Come, have a look:
Watercolor painting of a Muslim Hijabi woman scholar with books


Awards-Shhawards

"I am rage left unspoken, unheard, unfortunately, by the women before me.
So I write a lot & speak a little firmly, giving life to the words that never made it out of their mouths.
-Noor Unnahar

1 / 4

Photo with USA Consulate General

Winner of Just AI Awardsin the 'AI for Social Good' category at the Global AI Summit, 2024 in Hyderabad

  • The Just AI Awards, established by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) was done in collaboration with the Govt of Telangana and World Summit Awards (WSA) to honour AI solutions for social good.
  • Presented here by Osama Manzer, Founder & Director of DEF, and Rama Devi Lanka, Director of Emerging Technologies Wing of the Government of Telangana

2 / 4

Photo with USA Consulate General

Honored by USA Consulate General Judith Ravin, & Political/Economic Chief, USA, Virsa Perkins

  • Aindriya was invited to a detailed discussion on AI & social justice for their experience with grassroots-level activism through technology & art.
  • Judith also honored them with the book, "Human Nature, Planet Earth in Our Time".

3 / 4

UNFPA International Hackathon & Grant Winner Certificate

United Nations Populations Fund International Hackathon & Grant Winner

  • Competed with 8500 teams & bagged the Second runners-up position at International Hackathon organized by United Nations Population Fund on preventing & addressing Gender-Based Violence.
  • Other winners included start-ups from Canada & Nigeria.

4 / 4

Technical Fellow, Bacchao Project, Digital Vigital, Germany

Technical Fellow & grantee at The Bacchao Project

  • Aindriya worked on cross sector collaboration of the social & development space, tech, & art.
  • They collaborated with a lawyer & a social worker to create legal, technical & mental health resources for online hate speech victims, as a part of ShhorAI.
❮ ❯


Water color painting of a Bengali woman in traditional white and red border saree
Oh, hyan! Tar por toh the news of Aindriya's work spread like a wildfire, capturing the attention of the media. Aar, why wouldn't it, bolo? It was like witnessing the dawn of a Revolution, as the glory of Shhor painted the skies red, ekdom impossible to unsee uff 🔥 Just like me, countless others came across Aindriya's story this way, inspiring us to join this cause. Ei je, here, lemme show you how:

Media Frenzy

"Jab zulm-o-sitam ke koh-e-garan, Rooi ki tarha ur jaenge
Hum mehkoomon ke paaon tale, Ye dharti dhar dhar dharkegi
Hum Dekhenge"

"When the mountains of oppression & cruelty,
Will float away like carded wool.
Underneath our feet- we the governed, The ground will echo like a thumping heartbeat,
We will see"

(Urlish)
-Faiz Ahmad Faiz

Andrea M Wojnar

United Nations Press Release

(Aindriya Barua's) hate speach detection algorithm for social media platforms can scan, detect & classify hate speech from text, images & videos- a solution that can detect offensive content in Hinglish & has the potential to be applied to regional & vernacular languages too. It's a well conceptualized & executed tool that can work towards addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Congratulations Aindriya!

Andrea M Wojnar
Representative for UN-FPA, India & the Country Director for Bhutan

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Times of India

Times of India

A monthly report released by Meta on May 31 (2022) showed that both Facebook & Instagram had seen more than an 80% rise in hate speech & violent inciting content... where Islamophobia is rampant, followed by castesim, sexism & queerphobia, especially directed at trans people... Back in 2021 machine learning engineer & political artist Aindriya Barua decided to do something about this problem after getting death & rape threats when making socio-political art...

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Analytics India Mag

Analytics India Mag

Aindriya Barua, a 24-year-old Software Engineer from Tripura, has built a bot that many tech giants couldn't...

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Other Media Coverage

Click to learn more

NDTV Indian Express Deccan Herrald NDTV Decode | BOOM Rukmabai Initiative Behanbox Press Truss India The Print ANI News Techgig UNFPA TechPanda Times of India Abir Pothi Adivasi Lives Matter Dainik Sambad Northeast Colors
Water color painting of a Sikh Man
Aindriya is still tirelessly working on Shhor, ji. They reiterate they have milesss to go, par hun tak ji, these are the vadiya features of Shhor they have successfully developed:

Features da Fiesta

"Chitto jetha bhoy shunnyo, uncho jetha sheer,
Gyan jetha mukto, ...
Bharotere shei swarge koro jagorito"

"Where the mind is without fear & the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free ...
Into that heaven of freedom my Father, let my country awake."

(Benglish)
-Tagore

Detects Hate in Code-Mixed Forms

Existing AI systems trained only in major languages can't recognize code-mixed language, like Hinglish, Tamlish, etc. Shhor's AI is specifically trained to tackle this issue.

1st AI tool to work Beyond Text to Image & even Video

Today, it's not just comments & captions, but there's hate in memes, i.e images, & the ever-booming content-pool of reels/short-form videos. Don't worry Shhor has it all covered!

1st to Research Intersections of Marginalizations and Poltical Polarization trends

Marginalizations are intersectional & create compounded social stratas, intensifying the abuse. For instance, a lesbian faces hate, but a Dalit lesbian experiences even more severe hate. Shhor's novel research reveals these unnamed social hierarchies & their influence on discrimination through real world data. By shedding light on these complex dynamics, Shhor AI contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of discrimination and facilitates targeted interventions for social justice.

Shhor sees Through Obfuscation

Miscreants often use symbols, emojis & different spellings to by-pass the moderation tools in social media, which is why often, even big social media companies cannot detect these aggressions hidden in plain sight. Fear not. Shhor's powerful AI sees it all!

Shhor Combats Eight Shades of Hate

Shhor strives to make the internet a safe space for every marginalized community out there. Hence, Shhor identifies eight kinds of hate- Queerphobic, Gendered, Communal, Political, Casteist, Ablelist, Racist & General hate.

1st ever AI-powered First Aid Kit for Online Hate Victims

Shhor is a one-stop-shop for legal guidance, technical help, or mental health resources. Shhor provides an AI tool that can be used to identify the IPC laws certain abuse breaks & simplifies legal recourse.

Water color painting of a Khasi woman farmer with a sickle wearing traditional tap-moh khlieh
Aindriya has refrained from taking up another job for a year now, working on Shhor. But who has worldly needs when they are fulled by such passion? Isn't it? Or... is it? Sitting in their lil' room in Tripura, working away on Shhor day in & day out, Aindriya often wonders if they are being stupid, wasting the prime of their life not chasing capitalistic ambitions. A choice between a well-fed stomach or hunger & dreams is one that no one should have to make. As funds run low, Aindriya wonders how long they can go on.
Arrey but ShhorAI sounds like one hell of a useful tool in today's world. I bet they could charge a lottt for it na? 💰
Water color painting of a Benagli woman in traditional white and red border saree
Water color painting of a fat Telugu man in an orange shirt and white mund
Indeed. But here's the sweetest part ra. Aindriya refuses to charge the victims of abuse. It shall always be free, for the people, by the people 💙 So capitalising on victims is a big NOO for Aindriya, & financial issues loom large 😥
No wait da. All this while, the only wealth Aindriya has been fuelled by is their passion & love of the community. Alle? Pakshe, can't we do more? 🥺 What a shame it would be if such a remarkable project had to be abandoned simply 'cause it doesn't align with profit-driven business models.
Watercolour painting of a Malayali girl in traditional Pattupapavada attire
Water color painting of a Christian Tamil Guy
OMG great question pa. Ofcourse we can 😀 Aindriya is in desperate need of funds. They're in need of us, illa? If we all donate whatever lil' we can, drops would indeed make at least a puddle if not an ocean, just enough for Aindriya to sustain this amazing work machan.
Accha toh with enough funds, Aindriya hopes to do a lot more meaningful things. Some of those are as follows:
Muslim Hijabi woman scholar with books

Fund-tastic Plans

"Tum Kala Kamal Likho, Hum Lal Gulab Likhenge,
Tum Zameen Pe Zulm Likh Do,
Asman Pe Inquilab Likha Jayega"

You write black lotus, We will write red rose
As your pen scribbles injustice on the earth,
Revolution will be written on the skies.

(Hinglish)
-Aamir Aziz

Being a one-person team, Aindriya handles various responsibilities, including data collection, research, AI development, backend/frontend development, UI-UX design, dev-ops, marketing, PR, & community outreach. But it's not sustainable, & hiring a talented team is essential for future growth.

Currently, Aindriya has demonstrated the effectiveness of the AI model through integration with Reddit. Aindriya has an extensive plan layed out aiming to create a versatile bot that can be utilized across all social media platforms. This ambitious goal requires a strong team of skilled developers.

There's a need expand research from Hinglish to other languages & their code-mixes. The challenge is in dataset building. With enough resources, Aindriya plans to turn this process into an employment opportunity for minority communities, providing them with job opportunities & empowering the oppressed.

Soon, Aindriya wants to launch this full-fledged tool for free to everyone on the internet, with a bunch of exciting & meaningful features.

Research on image processing can be built on top of the current text-based model to further improve image & video analysis.

With expandd datasets & access to high computation power, the accuracy of the model can be further improved using advanced algorithms.

Water color painting of a teenage girl making a heart gesture with her hands
To make these ambitions a reality, Aindriya seeks our support. Let's donate whatever we can and share the word far and wide till it reaches all those who can help this initiative thrive! The share buttons are at the bottom right corner. 💚

Help build a safer internet for all. Together, we shall Shh the Hate & let Love make all the Shhor!

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Shhor AI

Shh the hate, Amplify Love.

Pages

  • The Bot
  • The Human
  • Shhor Mag Library
  • Community

Our Story

  • First Hurdles
  • Awards & Accolades
  • Media Frenzy
  • Major Features
  • Plans Ahead

Contact Information

  • aindriya.shhorai@gmail.com

© 2023. All Rights Reserved. Designed by Aindriya Barua (They/Them)