LAUSR

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and their fields of application are among the most debated developments of recent times. Although being widely discussed academically, publicly and in policy debates, certain aspects of their research, development and application are completely ignored, namely the impact AI has on animals. Animals are affected by the research on and development of this technology since it partially relies on animal testing. In addition, AI is also being applied to improve monitoring and marketing of animals in an agricultural context. We argue that it is insufficient to exclude these aspects from debates around AI. In addition to the surveillance-applications on animals, which can be evaluated as impacting them negatively, AI applications, from which individual animals can benefit, do exist. These can primarily be found in nature and wildlife conservation, as we point out at the end of the paper. By providing an overview on how these technologies are applied to animals and how this affects them, this paper aims to fill a previously existing research gap.