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AI researchers will explore how humans can “talk” with pets as the first scientific institution has been established to focus on investigating animal consciousness.
The £4 million Jeremy Coller Animal Centre, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), will begin work on non-human animals on September 30th with experts from various fields.
Inside that project is a set of AI to explore what is wrong with it, and how it can help it in avoiding potential dangers.
Professor Jonathan Burch, the center’s first director, told the Guardian:
“However, AI often produces user-pleased responses rather than being locked into objective reality. This can be a disaster if applied to pet welfare.
“We are urgently needed a framework to manage the use of responsible ethical AI with animals. At this point, there is a complete lack of regulation in this area. The Centre wants to develop globally recognized ethical guidelines.”
The center is set up to work with non-governmental organizations with the aim of developing guidance and research that can lobby globally.
Jeff Sebo, director of the Environmental Animal Protection Center at New York University, told the newspaper that the issues of animal sense and welfare, the impact of AI on animals, and the public’s attitude towards animals are “in the most important and neglected issues we face as a society.”
“Humans share the world with millions of species and 100 million individual animals, and we affect animals all over the world, whether we like it or not,” he added.
Professor Christine Andrews, one of the trustees of the new center, said he believes the new project can even answer the question of human consciousness and what it is.
She said: “We still don’t understand whether we are still conscious of humans or why we should stop anyone from becoming aware of them. But we know that the way to get the answer is to study simple systems first.
