Researchers found that AI models either reinforce existing biases about farm animals, or conceal the connection to factory farming altogether. Either way, the result is the same — we humans are passing down our prejudices to these different AI systems, who in turn spread these biases to our collective unconsciousness like a virus.
RACHEL TENG: Here’s a lesser-known fact that might raise your eyebrows: out of all living birds, 70 percent are chickens and other poultry, and at least five million of the remainder are illegally traded wildlife. Why is this surprising, besides the fact that factory farming is so often hidden from public view? The answer might lie in the tools we use to find information online. A quick image search of the word “birds” will show creatures flying free in their natural habitats, while only a fraction of search results point to the poultry or illegal wildlife trade industries.
New research by digital ethics experts uncovers why this might be the case, and why machine learning models used to train AI systems may be at the heart of the problem. The computer models that teach different kinds of AI to provide images and chatbot replies are not neutral, it turns out. In fact, the researchers found that these models either reinforce existing biases about farm animals, or conceal the connection to factory farming altogether. Either way, the result is the same — we humans are passing down our prejudices to these different AI systems, who in turn spread these biases to our collective unconsciousness like a virus…
And this bias is largely flying under the radar. “Language models today may have become fairer to animals — mostly due to reinforcement learning from human feedback — but bias mitigation measures remain purely anthropocentric, so nobody is looking specifically at animals,” says Hagendorff. In other words, AI regulators are looking at important human-centered issues like racism or sexism, but animal welfare remains a glaring blind spot…
The biggest ramification that AI has towards animal welfare might be furthering the intensification of animal agriculture — factory farms, in other words — says Christine Parker, Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society in Melbourne. AI-enabled precision agriculture is now being used to make it easier to keep expanding the factory farm industry, she tells Sentient Media… Some researchers are concerned that the way AIs portray animals could foster the perception of farm animals as only something to consume, rather than recognizing them as individuals who have personalities and feel pain. SOURCE…
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