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The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), will develop approaches to study feelings of animals
The centre will also work with stakeholders to explore the ethical use of AI in relation to animals. (File)
Why is your dog looking sad? Why is your cat doing something new with its toe beans? Not sure if you are actually helping your pet? Soon, artificial intelligence (AI) and science will come to your rescue.
The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), will develop new approaches to study the feelings of other animals scientifically.
What will the centre do?
According to the LSE website, the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, made possible through a multi-year commitment of £4 million from the Jeremy Coller Foundation, will use the emerging science of animal sentience to design better policies, laws and ways of caring for other animals.
Under the leadership of its inaugural Director, Professor Jonathan Birch, the new centre – launching in autumn 2025 at LSE – will harness LSE’s interdisciplinary expertise, bringing together LSE’s outstanding faculty and students and working with global thought leaders across philosophy, veterinary medicine, evolutionary biology, comparative psychology, neuroscience, behavioural science, computer science, artificial intelligence, economics and law around a shared research agenda and a shared commitment to benefiting other animals.
The AI project
The centre will also work with stakeholders (in sectors such as science, tech and farming) to explore the ethical use of AI in relation to animals, aiming to develop a code of practice to support the AI industry in ensuring animals and their needs are not forgotten.
Professor Jonathan Birch, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at LSE and the Centre’s inaugural Director, commented: “The new centre, the first of its kind in the world, will be a place for ethical moonshots. Let’s make a world in which all sentient beings are respected, even the smallest ones. Let’s make a world where AI is used to benefit all animals, not to facilitate cruelty. Let’s make a world in which people are empowered to act in accordance with their love of other animals rather than being nudged towards indifference. Some say these are impossible dreams, but the boundary between the ‘possible’ and the allegedly ‘impossible’ is one we aim to move.”
Jeremy Coller commented: “We are a speciesist species – only when we have a better understanding of how other animals feel and communicate will we be able to acknowledge our own shortcomings in how we treat them. Just as the Rosetta Stone unlocked the secrets of hieroglyphics, I am convinced the power of AI can help us unlock our understanding of how other animals experience their interactions with humans.”
At the news desk for 17 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing special copies …Read More
At the news desk for 17 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing special copies … Read More
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