We’re living in a time when groups of people are mobilizing to make historic change (#BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo and #MarchForOurLives, to name a few). We also live in a time of Artificial Intelligence (AI), chatbots, and machine learning. So what if we could bring together the technology and interconnectedness of this moment to solve one of the most horrible issues of our time: Modern slavery?

I’ve fought human trafficking for more than a decade, but I started my professional life in the software world working for companies like Microsoft. Over the past two years, I’ve seen humble, committed tech professionals volunteer their skills and abilities to build digital pathways for trafficking victims to escape their exploitation. Human trafficking is part of the global economy, and that means it leaves a data trail where victims can be found.

The buying and selling of sex trafficking victims happens in plain sight on the Internet, and volunteers from technology companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and Tableau have helped my nonprofit Seattle Against Slavery (SAS) build tools to connect victims with lifesaving resources in their communities. This type of targeted, direct outreach has helped over 500 trafficking survivors connect with resources in the last two years alone.

The technology also disrupts the market of traffickers and sex buyers. With AI chatbots posing as trafficking victims, gathering data, and sending out deterrence messages, a light is shined on a part of the online world that has thrived on darkness and anonymity. Most importantly, the technology has the ability to scale to meet the problem. While law enforcement can only arrest a few hundred traffickers or sex buyers each year, Intercept bots can reach tens of thousands of perpetrators – exactly the number online looking to exploit vulnerable people in our communities. Similarly, data-driven outreach to potential victims means resources available in communities across the U.S. can be offered in real-time to the survivors who desperately need it.

This idea, that a small organization could use technology disrupt an entire marketplace, is what Silicon Valley and the start-up economy was built upon. But it certainly doesn’t fit the mold of most U.S. nonprofits, and correspondingly, is definitely not the model most philanthropic dollars flow into every year. The interesting thing is that this technology is helping victims and reducing human trafficking everywhere it has been tried, and the tools are only going to improve as they are refined.

As anti-trafficking organizations connect with professionals in the data economy, we will witness amazing collaborations yielding transformative results. In a time when local stories can go viral and social media can change the outcome of global politics, sex trafficking could be effectively eradicated through the use of technology and data science in the next decade.

Just like other start-up efforts, no one is waiting for permission. We are prototyping, piloting, and taking risks. Survivors are directing and leading the efforts, teaming up with experts in technology. Community members are pressing their government and law enforcement to change, catch up, and go digital. And unseen in the background, never-resting abolitionist bots are humming away, finding victims, disrupting exploiters, and showing us the way to end human trafficking.

How to Help:
  • Learn: Tap into resources like the U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons report. The latest iteration highlights ways local communities can tackle human tracking and outlines how national governments provide support.
  • Connect: Volunteer your skills at local organizations working against human trafficking.
  • Take Action: Support your local human trafficking organizations such as Seattle Against Slavery. Or, donate to an issue fund which offers a portfolio of organizations to support.