“Are there such opportunities? So far, I can’t break this down to anything tangible. ‘If we don’t do anything, the systems will become entrenched and determine animal outcomes for decades to come’ - what systems? What outcomes? Who, where? Can someone give me a few clear examples of tractable situations?
… Agricultural AI platforms from John Deere and Bayer are being deployed. But how is any of this tractable—what are you hoping orgs/grantees/EA people can do about those things?”
… If that’s so, then can someone tell me, in plain English, what that looks like? I.e ‘[lab] is currently planning [this development]. If we do [this action], we can change it to [this outcome], which will mean [x number] of animals experience [less suffering, presumably].’
I just want to express that these are really sound questions and I hope you keep asking them. I believe they are, as of yet, unanswered. I’d love to see AIxAnimals field/thought leaders work out their theories of change more clearly and concretely.
I think you correctly point out that there are gaps, and some of the framings I’ve seen seem to suggest that poultry farmers will just sit idly by as their animal-friendly AI COO’s will make commercially suboptimal farm-management and procurement decisions.
But, this is still a nacent field and I think questions like these will help it along!
Specifically about AI in farming, I talk about that a bit in this presentation about the tradeoffs between efficiency, welfare, and the middle ground of health. Also I compare 2 different scenarios where it is either the pro-animal people or the industry that gets the first mover advantage and how those might play out.
I just want to express that these are really sound questions and I hope you keep asking them. I believe they are, as of yet, unanswered. I’d love to see AIxAnimals field/thought leaders work out their theories of change more clearly and concretely.
I think you correctly point out that there are gaps, and some of the framings I’ve seen seem to suggest that poultry farmers will just sit idly by as their animal-friendly AI COO’s will make commercially suboptimal farm-management and procurement decisions.
But, this is still a nacent field and I think questions like these will help it along!
Thanks, Martijn. Yes, that’s another point of confusion; someone would need to pick up the tab for the added costs associated with better welfare.
Specifically about AI in farming, I talk about that a bit in this presentation about the tradeoffs between efficiency, welfare, and the middle ground of health. Also I compare 2 different scenarios where it is either the pro-animal people or the industry that gets the first mover advantage and how those might play out.