AI FOR ANIMALS
2025 CONFERENCE
March 1 & 2, 2025
University of California, Berkeley
Clark Kerr Conference Center
(In-person and Virtual Options)
We aim to build a multidisciplinary field AROUND how technology can positively impact animals.
SESSIONS WILL COVER
Animal consideration in AI models
Advocacy and technology
Interspecies communication
Animal law and veterinary medicine
Precision livestock farming
Digital minds and artificial agents
And more!
Featured Guests
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Peter Singer
Professor of Bioethics, Emeritus, Princeton University
(Virtual) -
Meghan Barrett
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David Pearce
Philosopher, Bioethicist, Humanity+
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Cass Sunstein
Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University (Virtual)
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Sara Beery
Assistant Professor, MIT – Computer Vision for the Environment & AI for Conservation (Virtual)
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Rajesh Reddy
Animal Law Program Director, Lewis & Clark Law School
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Jeff Sebo
Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, NYU
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Christopher Berry
Executive Director, Nonhuman Rights Project
&
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Josh Balk
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Xander Balwit
Editor-In-Chief, Asimov Press
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Kyle Behrend
Founder, NFPs.ai
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Jonathan Birch
Professor of Philosophy, London School of Economics
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Aaron Boddy
Chief Operating Officer, Shrimp Welfare Project
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Lewis Bollard
Program Director, Farm Animal Welfare, Open Philanthropy
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Janire Castellano Bueno
Outreach Manager, Wild Animal Initiative
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Lucius Caviola
Moral Psychologist, University of Oxford
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Dustin Crummett
Executive Director, Insect Institute
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Zachary Eagleton
Technical Researcher, The Far Out Initiative
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Andrés Gómez Emilsson
Director of Research, Qualia Research Institute
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Tse Yip Fai
AI and Animal Ethics Researcher, formerly Princeton University and Foresight Institute
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James Faville
Community Associate, Center On Long-Term Risk
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Kathleen Finlinson
Head of Strategy, Eleos AI
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Oscar Horta
Professor, University of Santiago de Compostela — Co-founder, Animal Ethics
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Robert Long
Executive Director,
Eleos AI -
Richard Ngo
AI expert, former OpenAI Governance Team
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Orr Paradise
Theory of Computation group, UC Berkeley
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Janet Pauketat
Research Fellow, Sentience Institute
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Adrià Moret
Board Member, Center for Animal Ethics at Pompeu Fabra University
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Jacob Shwartz-Lucas
Executive Director, The Animal Pain Research Institute
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Soenke Ziesche
AI Readiness Lead Expert, United Nations
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& more
to be announced . . .
Before the Conference
Testimonials
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"I found that the unconference sessions led to real, tangible project ideas, and I left feeling like we're on the cusp of something huge for animal welfare!"
- Aaron Boddy, Chief Operations Officer, Shrimp Welfare Project
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"AI has the potential to affect nonhuman animals everywhere, and over the past two years, this conference has played a key role in accelerating research about this important and neglected topic. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in AI ethics or animal ethics."
- Jeff Sebo, Director, NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy
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“I loved how the conference brought together numerous groups that don't typically interact. Animal advocates and activists could meet and discuss topics with academics studying precision livestock farming and philosophers researching animal consciousness and digital minds. ”
- Richie Manandhar-Richardson, Data Scientist & Researcher, Bryant Research & Good Growth Co.
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“We presented our vision to map the most important sources of farm animal suffering over the next few years... The audience's enthusiasm and interest in our work were truly motivating.”
Wladimir J. Alonso, Researcher and Director, Center for Welfare Metrics
Frequently Asked questions
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The event will start in the morning of Saturday March 1, 2025 at UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr Campus Conference Center and end in the evening of Sunday March 2, 2025.
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Early bird tickets are $199 for general admission and $75 for those who are students or currently not employed. Supporter tickets with special access to a reception with the speakers is available for $800.
Ticket prices will increase on Dec 1, 2024. -
We can mainly offer scholarships for discounted tickets. Travel funding is available on a very limited basis for notable guests who need support. Apply here for ticket discount.
We are also able to offer AirBnb spots for free for attendees who need it. Apply here for free accommodations. -
We are actively inviting speaker and session proposals. We will also plan to allow general participants to organize their own sessions through an unconference format. Apply here.
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Yes! And volunteers will also get their ticket price reimbursed. Apply here.
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We are covering a wide variety of topics including animal consideration in AI models, interspecies communication, precision livestock farming, and welfare of future digital minds.
In the past, digital minds have been a larger focus of the conference. While we still think this topic is important and welcome sessions and discussions on it, we decided to place more emphasis on animals for this conference for the purpose of generating more practical outcomes in the near future. -
We are covering a wide variety of topics including animal consideration in AI models, interspecies communication, precision livestock farming, and welfare of future digital minds. This conference aims to build the field of how technology can be used to positively impact animals. This will require multidisciplinary collaboration, which we hope will result from this conference. More concrete outcomes include a repository of tech interventions to help animals, project coordination, stakeholder mapping, and identification of aligned incentives.
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This event will be a “choose your own adventure” with multiple tracks and session formats including lectures, discussion groups, and networking sessions.
Attendees have the option to create their own sessions through our parallel unconference. -
We are offering free AirBnb accommodations for some attendees. Apply here.
Most budget-friendly, Less vibrant neighborhood (Oakland): Bay View Motel, Palms Motel, Bay Bridge Inn, Signature Inn, Westwind Lodge
Somewhat cheaper, Vibrant neighborhood: Nash Hotel - close to Downtown Berkeley BART station, 10 min drive/37 min walk to conference
More expensive, Most convenient: Graduate by Hilton Berkeley, 14 min walk to conference -
Yes, we will have a ticketed VIP pre-conference dinner on Friday at Lighthaven and open casual social gatherings Saturday and Sunday at a nearby house.
People are also welcome to add their own events to a list of unofficial satellite events, which we will release 1-2 weeks before the conference. -
If you have questions that aren’t answered by this page, please reach out to conference@aiforanimals.org
Core Team
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Sankalpa Ghose
Founder, OpenTelemed.Org & AnimalFriendly.AI
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Constance Li
Founder, AI for Animals — Co-founder, Hive
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Santeri Tani
Co-founder, Finnish Center for Safe AI Tutke
See you there!
University of California, Berkeley
March 1 & 2, 2025
Clark Kerr Conference Center
2601 Warring St, Berkeley, CA 94720
Want to volunteer or have a question?conference@aiforanimals.org