If your cat sulks, your dog’s groans or your rabbit is doing this strange thing again with his legs, you will recognize this familiar pang of guilt shared by most other animal owners.
But for those who wish to know what was going on in the minds of their faithful companions, help could soon be at hand – thanks to the creation of a first scientific institution dedicated to the empirical study on the consciousness of animals.
The Jeremy Coler Center for Senientime Animal, based in the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), will start its work on September 30, looking for non -human animals, including those that evolve to us from us as insects, crabs and cuttlefish.
Operating a wide range of interdisciplinary global expertise, the work of the center of 4 million sterling books will cover neuroscience, philosophy, veterinary sciences, law, evolutionary biology, comparative psychology, behavioral sciences, IT, economics and artificial intelligence.
One of his most catchy projects will be to explore how AI can help humans “speak” with their pets, the dangers that go wrong – And what we have to do to prevent it from happening.
“We love our pets to display human characteristics and with the advent of AI, the way your pet can speak to you will be brought to a whole new level,” said Professor Jonathan Birch, the inaugural director of the center.
“But AI often generates invented responses that please the user rather than being anchored in objective reality. This could be a disaster if it is applied to pet well-being,” said Birch, whose contribution to the law on animal welfare (sensitivity) has led to its extent to include molluscs of cephalopods and cephalopod crustaceans.
Birch point to separation anxiety: dog owners often want to reassure that their animal does not suffer when it is left alone for long periods. Futuristic “translation” applications based on models of large languages could promise to provide this insurance, but eventually cause damage by telling the owners what they want to hear rather than what the animal really needs.
“We need emergency executives governing the responsible and ethical use of AI compared to animals,” said Birch. “Currently, there is a total lack of regulations in this sphere. The Center wishes to develop ethical directives that will be recognized on a global scale. “
Birch also underlines the lack of regulation concerning animals and driver -free cars: “We have a lot of debates around them that do not hit people, but we are not talking about them also avoiding cats and dogs.”
AI and agriculture were another urgent problem for the center. “Agriculture already adopts automation in a huge way and that will increase at the rate,” said Birch. “But this happens without examination or discussion, which raises enormous ethical questions about the limits: should agriculture involve caring for animals? If this is the case, the current management is not the way we want agriculture to take place.”
The center will work with non -governmental organizations to develop advice, research and practice codes that can be launched worldwide.
Jeff Sebo, director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, at New York University, said that animal sensitivity and well-being issues, the effects of AI on animals and public attitudes towards animals were “among the most important, difficult and neglected problems with which we face as a company”.
“Humans share the world with millions of species and stop individual animals, and we affect animals around the world, whether or not,” he said.
Professor Kristin Andrews, one of the administrators of the new center, said that she thought it could answer what she considers the greatest question of science: what is the conscience – And how can it be overturned “on” in the event of a stroke and other medical emergencies?
“We still do not understand what makes humans aware, nor why someone is starting or stops being aware,” she said. “But we know that the way of obtaining answers is first to study simple systems: science has made great progress in genomics and medicine by studying simple organizations.”
Dr. Kristof Dhont, another trustee, said that he was fascinated by human attitudes towards animal sensitivity.
“One of the most urgent behavioral challenges of our time is how to fill the gap between what people believe in animals and how they really behave towards them,” he said.
“Most people are deeply careful about animals, but there are all these systems, habits, standards and economic benefits that annoy this in the way we treat animals.
“I want to use the behavioral sciences to understand, for example, why there is resistance to eat cultivated meat even if we all agree that it allowed creatures that feel the pain of being killed.”
Jeremy Paste, whose foundation made the multi -year commitment to the center, said that its objective was to change the attitudes of our “species species”.
“It is only when we have a better understanding of how other animals and will communicate that we will be able to recognize our own shortcomings in the way we treat them,” he said. “Like Rosetta stone has unlocked the secrets of hieroglyphs, I am convinced that the power of AI can help us unlock our understanding of how other animals experience their interactions with humans.”
