Schlagwort: Animal-Computer Interaction

Diskussionen, Tagungen

Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction

Animal-computer interaction (ACI) „is a rapidly growing field, which focuses on the interaction between animals and computing-enabled technology and for which the International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction is the main convention venue“ (Website ACI2022). ACI2022 will take place 5-8 December 2022, hosted by Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. The „Emerging Work“ track reflects early stage efforts that either: „1) will be of interest to the ACI community and likely to generate insightful, instructional, and/or spirited discussion, and/or 2) is early enough that it could benefit greatly from community feedback on direction, design, methods, etc.“ (Website ACI2022) In this track, the paper „A Face Recognition System for Bears: Protection for Animals and Humans in the Alps“ by Oliver Bendel and Ali Yürekkirmaz was accepted. It fits very well with this year’s conference theme, „Defining Tomorrow“. „The theme acknowledges the rapid growth in technology for animals with new products coming onto the market, normalising the use of technology in many human-animal relationships, and asks: where should we go next?“ (Website ACI2022)

Fig.: View of Newcastle upon Tyne (Photo: Rüdiger Schäfer )

Diskussionen, Publikationen

Animal Ethics and AI Ethics

The impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on non-human animals has been researched by Oliver Bendel for several years. He has made it his task to complement the discipline of animal-computer interaction, which was founded by Clara Mancini, with the discipline of animal-machine interaction. His most recent paper is „Passive, Active, and Proactive Systems and Machines for the Protection and Preservation of Animals and Animal Species“, published February 25, 2022, in Frontiers of Animal Science. Also becoming active in this field now is the famous ethicist Peter Singer. Together with his co-author Yip Fai Tse, he published the article „AI ethics: the case for including animals“ in July 2022. From the abstract: „The ethics of artificial intelligence, or AI ethics, is a rapidly growing field, and rightly so. While the range of issues and groups of stakeholders concerned by the field of AI ethics is expanding, with speculation about whether it extends even to the machines themselves, there is a group of sentient beings who are also affected by AI, but are rarely mentioned within the field of AI ethics – the nonhuman animals. This paper seeks to explore the kinds of impact AI has on nonhuman animals, the severity of these impacts, and their moral implications. We hope that this paper will facilitate the development of a new field of philosophical and technical research regarding the impacts of AI on animals, namely, the ethics of AI as it affects nonhuman animals.“ (Peter Singer and Yip Fai Tse 2022) In the text, the authors write: „Of the hundreds of AI ethics related papers we reviewed in this project, we only found four that concern the impacts of AI on animals, in a general way, and discuss the relevant ethical implications. They are: ‚Towards animal-friendly machines‘ by Oliver Bendel, ‚AI Ethics and Value Alignment for Nonhuman Animals‘ by Soenke Ziesche, ‚Moral Consideration of Nonhumans in the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence‘ by Andrea Owe and Seth Baum and ‚Animals and AI. The role of animals in AI research and application – An overview and ethical evaluation‘ by Leonie Bossert and Thilo Hagendorf.“ (Peter Singer and Yip Fai Tse 2022) The article will certainly give the young disciplines a further boost.

Fig.: Cat and computer

Ausschreibungen, Publikationen

Animal-Computer Interaction and Beyond

Clara Mancini (The Open University) and Eleonora Nannoni (University of Bologna) are calling for abstracts and papers for the Frontiers research topic „Animal-Computer Interaction and Beyond: The Benefits of Animal-Centered Research and Design“. They are well-known representatives of a discipline closely related to animal-machine interaction. „The field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) investigates how interactive technologies affect the individual animals involved; what technologies could be developed, and how they should be designed in order to improve animals’ welfare, support their activities and foster positive interspecies relationships; and how research methods could enable animal stakeholders to participate in the development of relevant technologies.“ (Website Frontiers) The editors welcome submissions that contribute, but are not necessarily limited, to the following themes: 1) „Applications of animal-centered and/or interactive technologies within farming, animal research, conservation, welfare or other domains“, and 2) „Animal-centered research, design methods and frameworks that have been applied or have applicability within farming, animal research, conservation, welfare or other domains Submission information is available through the website“ (Website Frontiers). More submission information is available through the Frontiers website.

Fig.: Almost animal-computer interaction