We think a lot about how AI will affect humanity, and for good reason. But AI could have an enormous impact on the trillions of animals that share our world (for better or worse), and almost nobody is talking about it.
In this episode, we talk with Constance Li, founder of Sentient Futures, an organization working to make sure AI and other emerging technologies improve the lives of animals rather than harm them.
We touch on:
- The enormous scale of animal suffering today, and why AI could either worsen or improve it depending on the decisions we make.
- Using computer vision and sensors to monitor animals and optimize for their welfare rather than just productivity.
- The research that’s being done to use AI to communicate with animals and what it’s already telling us about their well-being.
- Other sentient beings that could be impacted by emerging technologies, like artificial minds and biocomputing.
Timestamps:
0:00 Cold open
1:57 Why AI and animals is an overlooked combination
4:46 The staggering scale of factory farming
8:26 How a physician became an animal welfare advocate
10:19 What Sentient Futures does day-to-day
11:38 What "AI for animals" actually means
14:23 Why the organization was renamed Sentient Futures, and the question of AI moral patients
18:08 The biggest misconceptions about AI for animals
20:26 What is precision livestock farming?
24:46 Best and worst-case scenarios for AI in farms
27:46 Communication across species: promise and limitations
35:56 Genetic welfare and using genetics in farms
43:34 What a best-case scenario for AI and animals looks like in the next 5–10 years
47:11 The biggest hurdles: funding and attention
48:39 How to get involved with Sentient Futures
50:44 What gives Constance hope
On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers from the Foresight Institute invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures.
Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts
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