#185 – Lewis Bollard on the 7 most promising ways to end factory farming, and whether AI is going to be good or bad for animals

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Apr 18, 2024

Lewis Bollard, Director of the Farm Animal Welfare program at Open Philanthropy, dives into the urgent issues of factory farming. He discusses innovative solutions to alleviate animal suffering and the risks posed by AI in this context. Bollard outlines promising strategies to improve animal welfare, including corporate accountability and plant-based alternatives. The conversation also touches on recent legal victories and the global evolution of animal rights advocacy, igniting hope for a more humane future in food production.

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ANECDOTE

Cage-Free Campaign Success

Cage-free campaigns have positively impacted an estimated 200 million hens.
A further 250 million hens will benefit once existing pledges are fully implemented.

INSIGHT

Broiler Chicken Welfare Issues

Broiler chickens are bred for rapid growth and breast meat, leading to health problems.
Their legs often break, and they develop sores from manure-covered barn floors.

ANECDOTE

Difficulty Confronting Factory Farming

Luisa expresses sympathy for those who struggle to confront the realities of factory farming.
The scale of suffering can be overwhelming and lead to denial or avoidance.

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"The constraint right now on factory farming is how far can you push the biology of these animals? But AI could remove that constraint. It could say, 'Actually, we can push them further in these ways and these ways, and they still stay alive. And we’ve modelled out every possibility and we’ve found that it works.' I think another possibility, which I don’t understand as well, is that AI could lock in current moral values. And I think in particular there’s a risk that if AI is learning from what we do as humans today, the lesson it’s going to learn is that it’s OK to tolerate mass cruelty, so long as it occurs behind closed doors. I think there’s a risk that if it learns that, then it perpetuates that value, and perhaps slows human moral progress on this issue." —Lewis Bollard

In today’s episode, host Luisa Rodriguez speaks to Lewis Bollard — director of the Farm Animal Welfare programme at Open Philanthropy — about the promising progress and future interventions to end the worst factory farming practices still around today.

Links to learn more, highlights, and full transcript.

They cover:

The staggering scale of animal suffering in factory farms, and how it will only get worse without intervention.
Work to improve farmed animal welfare that Open Philanthropy is excited about funding.
The amazing recent progress made in farm animal welfare — including regulatory attention in the EU and a big win at the US Supreme Court — and the work that still needs to be done.
The occasional tension between ending factory farming and curbing climate change
How AI could transform factory farming for better or worse — and Lewis’s fears that the technology will just help us maximise cruelty in the name of profit.
How Lewis has updated his opinions or grantmaking as a result of new research on the “moral weights” of different species.
Lewis’s personal journey working on farm animal welfare, and how he copes with the emotional toll of confronting the scale of animal suffering.
How listeners can get involved in the growing movement to end factory farming — from career and volunteer opportunities to impactful donations.
And much more.

Chapters:

Common objections to ending factory farming (00:13:21)
Potential solutions (00:30:55)
Cage-free reforms (00:34:25)
Broiler chicken welfare (00:46:48)
Do companies follow through on these commitments? (01:00:21)
Fish welfare (01:05:02)
Alternatives to animal proteins (01:16:36)
Farm animal welfare in Asia (01:26:00)
Farm animal welfare in Europe (01:30:45)
Animal welfare science (01:42:09)
Approaches Lewis is less excited about (01:52:10)
Will we end factory farming in our lifetimes? (01:56:36)
Effect of AI (01:57:59)
Recent big wins for farm animals (02:07:38)
How animal advocacy has changed since Lewis first got involved (02:15:57)
Response to the Moral Weight Project (02:19:52)
How to help (02:28:14)

Producer and editor: Keiran Harris
Audio engineering lead: Ben Cordell
Technical editing: Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong
Additional content editing: Katy Moore and Luisa Rodriguez
Transcriptions: Katy Moore