Episode Details

TL;DR: this is an incredibly underdeveloped field with very little funding deployed and only one small direct work org. There are clear basic projects that need to get off the ground. Please donate to help start the new Falcon Fund which will do active grantmaking on these projects.

It's been over three years since ChatGPT was released, and in that time the Animal Welfare movement has had to grapple with what it means to face off with rapidly advancing AI. This has not gone very well. Not only does the Animal Welfare movement have almost no money, it also has almost no technical talent. From the AI side, billions of dollars have (rightly) gone into the AI Safety field to figure out how we’re going to navigate the future, and many of the people working on that deeply care about animals. In many ways, the future of animal welfare is just a subset of problems that people in AI Safety are already working on. Nonetheless, AI is about to be deployed in ways that will impact countless animals, and there seem to be no safeguards in place.

The animal movement in an ideal world would have put at least [...]

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Outline:

(03:51) What is AIxAnimals?

(04:33) Why focus on this at all?

(05:06) 1. Direct impact on animals

(05:47) 2: Impact on all sentient life, including digital minds and humans

(07:41) 3. We shouldnt build AI systems that commit moral atrocities

(08:13) Who is involved?

(08:16) Main organizations

(09:02) Academia and research

(09:27) Other

(09:41) What should this field specifically try to achieve?

(09:47) 1. Measurement

(11:02) 2. Direct Impact

(12:19) 3. Moral Patienthood Consideration

(13:00) 4. Policy

(13:50) What specific projects should be started immediately?

(15:37) AI-enabled technologies for animal welfare

(15:47) AI for Cultivated Meat and Alternative Proteins

(17:17) Advocacy Tech

(17:45) Conclusion: What I am excited for

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First published:
April 29th, 2026

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/QgW9qFv6LBn7qDTig/the-state-of-the-aixanimals-field

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.