Jacqueline Comer, co-founder and chief product officer of Areto Labs, was among the recipients of the AI + Safety award at the She Shapes AI Conference in London on April 16. The organization praised her efforts to create the world's first global hate-speech index for sports, a quarterly gauge of social-media sentiment around the world that led to the development of a microaggressions detection tool. "Across sectors and geographies, their work reflects what happens when AI is developed with intention," She Shapes AI said in a post introducing the 10 winners. "Not for the sake of innovation alone, but in response to real needs — grounded in context, shaped by lived experience, and designed to deliver meaningful outcomes."
Though Comer is based in Auckland, New Zealand, she started Areto Labs in Edmonton in 2020 with co-founders Lana Cuthbertson and Kasey Machin. Areto participated in the first cohort of the Community Safety and Wellness Accelerator (which is now defunct), and it was the first company that the ScaleGood Fund invested in in 2022. Areto has analyzed 27.6 million online comments since August 2022, identifying more than 2.3 million harmful interactions and taking action on more than a million, Comer said in an email to Taproot, adding that "communities using Areto report up to a 99% reduction in hate‑speech harm."
The 2025 annual report from Areto Labs showed elevated metrics for online abuse, especially towards women and trans athletes. "We publish this data because understanding the scale of the problem is the first step toward addressing it," the report's introduction reads. Areto's conclusion makes a direct call-to-action, with an emphasis on the well-being of organization's athletes. "The data points to one conclusion: online abuse is no longer an edge case to be managed reactively. It is a structural challenge that requires a structural response." As the Edmonton Oilers embark on another playoff run, they too will likely see an influx of negativity, judging by Areto's 2024 case study. "Their social media channels were abuzz with over 223,000 comments and an unprecedented increase in spam and negative content," Areto reported. "Managing this influx was crucial to maintaining a positive fan experience."