Researchers believe that artificial intelligence (AI) could help us figure out when animals are experiencing pain or other emotions. This idea is highlighted in a recent article from the journal Science, which discussed some innovative projects in this area.
One interesting project is called the Intellipig system, created by scientists from the University of the West of England in Bristol and Scotland’s Rural College. This system studies photos of pigs’ faces to look for signs that might indicate they are hurting, sick, or feeling upset. If the system detects any of these signs, it alerts farmers, allowing them to take action to help the animals.
Another team, based at the University of Haifa, has experience with facial recognition technology that helps people locate lost dogs. They are now using AI to recognize when dogs are uncomfortable by examining their facial expressions. Interestingly, research has shown that dog faces share about 38% of the same movements as human faces, which means that the AI can learn to understand these cues.
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The way these systems usually work is by first involving humans to point out what different animal behaviors mean. This is often done by closely observing animals in various situations over a long time. However, a researcher from the University of São Paulo took a different approach by studying pictures of horses. He collected images of horses’ faces taken before and after they had surgery, as well as before and after they received pain relief medication. By training an AI system to focus on the horses’ eyes, ears, and mouths, he found that the AI was able to independently determine signs of pain with an impressive accuracy rate of 88%.
Overall, these advancements indicate that AI could provide valuable insights into animal emotions and pain, which can help improve their welfare.
