Animal-centred AI: On the need of value-sensitive innovation in the context of animal production

Within the current, transformative developments of the agricultural sector, animal welfare plays an important role. Societal acceptance of using animals in food production systems is no longer a given. The present understanding of animal welfare goes beyond a mere prevention of harm and focuses on enabling positive experiences and an overall ‘good life’. At the same time, the development and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based methods in animal production is advancing faster than a comprised socio-ethical assessment of these technologies. This approach may favour short-term improvements of certain production variables. However, it is not sustainable in the long-term, for instance if the actual aims of technology use, the responsibilities for achieving these aims and the duty towards the animals subjected to the technologies are unclear. A mismatch between the values implied in the applied AIbased methods and the values implied in people’s visions on animals may lead to increased societal concerns and a rejection of technology use in animal production or animal production in general. In this paper, I argue why there is a need to develop and apply AI-based methods which align with people’s visions on animals, which enable a ‘good life’ for animals in food production systems and which support farmers to sustainably transform their production. This includes a shift from monitoring variables that can be monitored with AI-based methods towards monitoring variables that are actually meaningful for (1) implementing people’s visions on animals into practice; (2) improving animals’ lives; and (3) supporting farmers to meet societal demands regarding animal production. Using AI in a way that is in line with people’s values concerning animals can be a major driver for transformative developments in the animal agricultural sector which will contribute to its public acceptance and long-term sustainability. To reach this aim, I propose a collaborative approach involving experts from the fields of animal ethics, ethics of technology, computer science and animal welfare science. Moreover, these efforts can only be successful if partners from the relevant animal industries are already involved in the design-phase of innovations.