Books by Leonie N . Bossert
Back to the Future, 2024
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications are increasingly influential across various socio-ecolo... more Artificial intelligence (AI) applications are increasingly influential across various socio-ecological domains, including agriculture, where ethical concerns are paramount. One critical area involves using AI for automated pain detection (APD) in farmed animals, a technology aimed at supposedly improving animal welfare by identifying pain through methods such as facial recognition. This short paper addresses the ethical implications of APD, noting its current use and potential expansion in agriculture. Despite its promise, APD's effectiveness and validity remain contentious, with significant ethical issues stemming from data quality, algorithm reliability, and the deep ties between APD development and the animal agriculture industry. Moreover, fundamental philosophical questions about the nature of pain and the limitations of detecting it automatically pose intrinsic ethical challenges. These include the risk of oversimplifying animal welfare. The paper calls for comprehensive ethical evaluations of APD technologies before implementing them increasingly in agriculture.
Anthropozän. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven und philosophische Bildung, 2024
Planetary Health Humanities and Pandemics, 2024
of nonhumans. However, when pathogens emerge, we usually do not find a single source for a zoonot... more of nonhumans. However, when pathogens emerge, we usually do not find a single source for a zoonotic outbreak, but rather a "tangled web of relations…of many prior zoonotic events" (Kirksey 2021, 385). As Genese Sodikoff further explains, the presumably zoonotic origin
Dieser transdisziplinäre Sammelband, ein Projekt des »Chimaira – Arbeitskreis für Human-Animal St... more Dieser transdisziplinäre Sammelband, ein Projekt des »Chimaira – Arbeitskreis für Human-Animal Studies«, widmet sich als erste deutschsprachige Publikation den vielfältigen Fragen nach tierlicher Handlungs- und Wirkungsmacht. Die Human-Animal Studies nehmen sich damit einer Leerstelle in der bisherigen Forschung um das zentrale Konzept der Agency an, welches in den verschiedensten Disziplinen auf der Tagesordnung steht. Dabei kontrovers diskutierte Ansätze jenseits des Anthropozentrismus, wie z.B. die Akteur-Netzwerk-Theorie und der New Materialism, werden erstmalig explizit auf tierliche Akteur_innen fokussiert.
Papers by Leonie N . Bossert
Nature, 2024
It is essential to ensure the effectiveness of current conservation efforts to meet the interconn... more It is essential to ensure the effectiveness of current conservation efforts to meet the interconnected crises of biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, and climate change. In this article, we discuss one aspect that undermines conservation's effectiveness while at the same time being underexplored in the academic and political discourse on conservation: patriarchal norms and structures. We argue that these norms and structures, which promote male supremacy and inequality, are central to driving environmental destruction. Many conservation programs unintentionally reinforce patriarchal thinking, thereby undermining their effectiveness. We provide examples of how patriarchy influences conservation, such as the precarious position of women (Working Conditions for Women in Conservation), the treatment of animals (Violence against animals), the suppression of particular forms of knowledge (Science and knowledge production), militarization trends in conservation (Securitization and militarization of conservation enforcement), and the financialization of nature (The monetary valuation of nature). We conclude that patriarchal norms and structures within conservation must be questioned and dismantled to make conservation more effective and just.
Nature Machine Intelligence, 2025
There is a growing awareness of the substantial
environmental costs of large language models
(LLM... more There is a growing awareness of the substantial
environmental costs of large language models
(LLMs), but discussing the sustainability of
LLMs only in terms of CO2 emissions is not
enough. This Comment emphasizes the need
to take into account the social and ecological
costs and benefits of LLMs as well.
npj | biodiversity, 2024
It is essential to ensure the effectiveness of current conservation efforts to meet the interconn... more It is essential to ensure the effectiveness of current conservation efforts to meet the interconnected crises of biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, and climate change. In this article, we discuss one aspect that undermines conservation’s effectiveness while at the same time being underexplored in the academic and political discourse on conservation: patriarchal norms and structures. We argue that these norms and structures, which promote male supremacy and inequality, are central to driving environmental destruction. Many conservation programs unintentionally reinforce patriarchal thinking, thereby undermining their effectiveness. We provide examples of how patriarchy influences conservation, such as the precarious position of women (Working Conditions for Women in Conservation), the treatment of animals (Violence against animals), the suppression of particular forms of knowledge (Science and knowledge production), militarization trends in conservation (Securitization and militarization of conservation enforcement), and the financialization of nature (The monetary valuation of nature). We conclude that patriarchal norms and structures within conservation must be questioned and dismantled to make conservation more effective and just.
Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2024
In recent years, many studies analyzed the environmental, health and economic implications of the... more In recent years, many studies analyzed the environmental, health and economic implications of the
production and consumption of different foods – and, on this basis, evaluated their sustainability.
However, associated impacts on animals have remained largely unexamined and existing assessment
approaches are still immature and often lack reflection on their normative assumptions and resulting
implications. As animal welfare concerns increase, this represents a shortcoming, leaving a critical
sustainability issue without due consideration. To address this, we develop a conceptual framework that
guides the key decisions for assessing animal welfare impacts of foods. The framework is derived from
an integrative literature review and revised following external feedback from expert focus groups. It
bridges the research fields of food system modeling, animal welfare science and animal ethics and can
guide researchers in developing assessment approaches and assessing animal welfare impacts of foods,
from individual food items to whole diets. The framework also directs transparent communication of
the most important assessment decisions. We outline key considerations for animal welfare assessments
of foods, highlight associated challenges and discuss quality criteria as well as technical and normative
strategies to address them. Our contribution provides a basis for future research to integrate animal
welfare into sustainability evaluations of food and investigate tradeoffs and synergies with
environmental, social or economic issues. Following this framework in future assessments facilitates
the integration of animal welfare into food-related policy assessments and public decisions.
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 2024
This paper argues that existing human-animal relations contribute to the pressing socio-ecologica... more This paper argues that existing human-animal relations contribute to the pressing socio-ecological crises of our time, and therefore, they should be discussed in the context of Sustainable Development. This holds true even from a purely anthropocentric perspective, as these crises are threats to humans. However, sentient nonhuman animals possess interests as well and should be included in the moral community. Therefore, ignoring their interests in Sustainable Development is falling short. Furthermore, the paper argues that the anthropocentric perspective of Sustainable Development is flawed because the normative foundations of Sustainable Development (intra- and intergenerational justice) can be convincingly applied to nonhuman animals. According to approaches of interspecies justice, the normative foundations of Sustainable Development not merely can but should be applied to nonhuman animals. The paper argues for including nonhuman animals into the scope of justice and, therefore, in a theory of Sustainable Development. What such inclusion means at the practical level is examined in the last section of the paper, which investigates a field of application important for transforming societies into more sustainable ones, namely energy systems. This last section discusses how more sustainable, more animal-friendly energy systems would look like.
Nature Humanities and Social Science Communications, 2024
Technologies, especially disruptive technologies, have a great potential to change and reshape hu... more Technologies, especially disruptive technologies, have a great potential to change and reshape human-human as well as human-technology relations. This creates various ethical challenges that need to be addressed. However, technologies also have great potential to change human-animal relations. Since this aspect is underexplored in the academic debate on technologies' impact on relations, we believe that it is important to (1), descriptively, study how new and emerging technologies impact human-animal relations, and (2), normatively, to enrich the debate with a non-anthropocentric perspective that recognizes that human-animal relations also have moral significance. Therefore, in this paper we investigate how artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and robotics impact human-animal relations, and we discuss the moral significance of these changes. AI technologies change human-animal relations due to, first, automation, and second, replacement processes. Automation processes mainly take place in the animal agriculture sector, and the replacement of biological animals with artificial AI-driven animals mainly in the context of zoos, companion animals and laboratories. We address both processes (automation and replacement), thereby providing an overview of how the use of AI technologies will-or can-change human-animal relations, at both the individual and societal levels. While doing so, we highlight the morally significant aspects that come along with such changes and provide first thoughts on which uses of AI are welcomed from a perspective of human-animal relations.
Biological Conservation, 2024
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly used in conservation practices, e.g., ... more Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly used in conservation practices, e.g., to prevent poaching or inventory wildlife. Another area of application is using AI to decode animal vocalisations to understand better-and subsequently better protect-the animals. It has already been applied to different species, including various whale species. Whales have complex vocalisations that are used for sexual selection, to coo their young, for echolocation, and as a form of communication. Scientists are deploying underwater microphones (hydrophones), robotic fish, and tags to record whale vocalisation. AI is used to identify whale vocalisation patterns, understand their meaning, and digitally recreate these sounds to communicate with them. Understanding and translating whale vocalisations into something humanly understandable aims at helping to identify their movements to protect them from ship strikes and bycatch and prevent or reduce sonar that interferes with their echolocation. Using AI holds potential benefits, but it also comes with several risks. We describe current projects that use AI to decipher the vocalisations of humpback and sperm whales (Section 3). We introduce six ethical challenges of applying AI to decode whale vocalisations and highlight what needs to be addressed to establish these practices responsibly (Section 4). These challenges are anthropomorphism, privacy rights, cultural and emotional harm to whales, technological solutionism, ineffectiveness for whale conservation, and gender bias. This paper critically evaluates the use of AI to analyse whale vocalisation, concluding that using AI to decode whale vocalisations holds many benefits for whale conservation; however, using AI to try to speak with whales is ethically problematic because of the potential emotional, physical, and cultural harm caused to whales.
Environmental Ethics, 2024
The use of genetic engineering is increasingly discussed for nature conservation. At the same tim... more The use of genetic engineering is increasingly discussed for nature conservation. At the same time, recent animal ethics approaches debate whether humans should genetically engineer wild animals to improve their welfare. This paper examines if obligations towards wild sentient animals require humans to genetically engineering wild animals, while arguing that there is no moral need to do so. The focus is on arguments from animal ethics, but they are linked to conservation ethics, highlighting the often neglected overlap between the two fields. The paper emphasizes that a) the benefits of genetic engineering are overestimated and at the same time harms from its development and use underestimated, b) the assumption that genetic engineering is an appropriate ‘last resort’ tool is wrong, c) many arguments in favor of genetic engineering are based on an inadequate understanding of ecology and bio-technological processes, and d) the debate downplays the importance of self-determination for wild animals
Billionen von Mikroben leben auf und in den Körpern von Menschen, Tieren und Pflanzen. Sie bilden... more Billionen von Mikroben leben auf und in den Körpern von Menschen, Tieren und Pflanzen. Sie bilden das menschliche, tierliche, oder pflanzliche Mikrobiom. Mikrobiome existieren entsprechend nicht unabhängig voneinander. Durch die ständige Zirkulation und Interaktion von Mikroorganismen sind wir Menschen auf komplexe Weise miteinander und mit unserer Umwelt verbunden. Damit gehen zahlreiche ethische Fragen einher. Diese beleuchten wir in diesem Blogbeitrag und fokussieren dabei auf ethische Fragen im Kontext von menschlicher Körperlichkeit.
Philosophy and Technology, 2023
AI technologies affect not only humans in many ways but also sentient animals. When investigating... more AI technologies affect not only humans in many ways but also sentient animals. When investigating the impact of AI on other animals, it is important to consider how these technologies can harm them. However, it is equally important to explore how they can be used to enable animals to live good lives and improve their wellbeing. In this article, I present the rationale for this claim (Section 1), highlight applications through which AI systems are or can be used to benefit nonhuman animals, and show how these benefits can be classified in terms of the harm framework proposed by Coghlan and Parker (Philosophy & Technology 36:25, 2023; Section 2). Finally, I identify open research questions that need to be addressed next (Section 3).
AI and Ethics, 2023
The elimination of biases in artificial intelligence (AI) applications-for example biases based o... more The elimination of biases in artificial intelligence (AI) applications-for example biases based on race or gender-is a high priority in AI ethics. So far, however, efforts to eliminate bias have all been anthropocentric. Biases against nonhuman animals have not been considered, despite the influence AI systems can have on normalizing, increasing, or reducing the violence that is inflicted on animals, especially on farmed animals. Hence, in 2022, we published a paper in AI and Ethics in which we empirically investigated various examples of image recognition, word embedding, and language models, with the aim of testing whether they perpetuate speciesist biases. A critical response has appeared in AI and Ethics, accusing us of drawing upon theological arguments, having a naive anti-speciesist mindset, and making mistakes in our empirical analyses. We show that these claims are misleading.
Sustainable Development, 2023
Technologies equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) influence our everyday lives in a variety... more Technologies equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) influence our everyday lives in a variety of ways. Due to their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, their high use of energy, but also their impact on fairness issues, these technologies are increasingly discussed in the “sustainable AI” discourse. However, current “sustainable AI” approaches remain anthropocentric. In this article, we argue from the perspective of applied ethics that such anthropocentric outlook falls short. We present a sentientist approach, arguing that the normative foundation of sustainability and sustainable development—that is, theories of intra- and intergenerational justice—should include sentient animals. Consequently, theories of sustainable AI must also be non-anthropocentric. Moreover, we investigate consequences of our approach for applying AI technologies in a sustainable way.
Introducing the microbiome: Interdisciplinary perspectives
Endeavour
Anthropozentrismus (in) der Krise: Warum Probleme nicht mit der Denkweise gelöst werden können, die sie auch hervorgerufen hat
Gaia (Heidelberg), Mar 31, 2022
Anthropozentrische Perspektiven können nicht ausreichend zur Lösung sozial-ökologischer Krisen be... more Anthropozentrische Perspektiven können nicht ausreichend zur Lösung sozial-ökologischer Krisen beitragen, da sie selbst Teil eines krisenhaften Systems gesellschaftlicher Naturverhältnisse sind. Daher ist eine Ausweitung des Anthropozentrismus-Begriffs moralphilosophisch problematisch. Um die Transformation gesellschaftlicher Naturverhältnisse differenziert zu bewerten, ist vielmehr eine nichtanthropozentrische intersektionale Perspektive in der Umweltethik hilfreich.
“As if that God made Creatures for Mans meat”: Margaret Cavendish’s The Hunting of the Hare and Animal Ethics
Ethics of Science in the Research for Sustainable Development, 2015
Massive efforts are made to reduce biases in both data and algorithms in order to render AI appli... more Massive efforts are made to reduce biases in both data and algorithms in order to render AI applications fair. These efforts are propelled by various high-profile cases where biased algorithmic decision-making caused harm to women, people of color, minorities, etc. However, the AI fairness field still succumbs to a blind spot, namely its insensitivity to discrimination against animals. This paper is the first to describe the ‘speciesist bias’ and investigate it in several different AI systems. Speciesist biases are learned and solidified by AI applications when they are trained on datasets in which speciesist patterns prevail. These patterns can be found in image recognition systems, large language models, and recommender systems. Therefore, AI technologies currently play a significant role in perpetuating and normalizing violence against animals. This can only be changed when AI fairness frameworks widen their scope and include mitigation measures for speciesist biases. This paper ...
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Books by Leonie N . Bossert
Papers by Leonie N . Bossert
environmental costs of large language models
(LLMs), but discussing the sustainability of
LLMs only in terms of CO2 emissions is not
enough. This Comment emphasizes the need
to take into account the social and ecological
costs and benefits of LLMs as well.
production and consumption of different foods – and, on this basis, evaluated their sustainability.
However, associated impacts on animals have remained largely unexamined and existing assessment
approaches are still immature and often lack reflection on their normative assumptions and resulting
implications. As animal welfare concerns increase, this represents a shortcoming, leaving a critical
sustainability issue without due consideration. To address this, we develop a conceptual framework that
guides the key decisions for assessing animal welfare impacts of foods. The framework is derived from
an integrative literature review and revised following external feedback from expert focus groups. It
bridges the research fields of food system modeling, animal welfare science and animal ethics and can
guide researchers in developing assessment approaches and assessing animal welfare impacts of foods,
from individual food items to whole diets. The framework also directs transparent communication of
the most important assessment decisions. We outline key considerations for animal welfare assessments
of foods, highlight associated challenges and discuss quality criteria as well as technical and normative
strategies to address them. Our contribution provides a basis for future research to integrate animal
welfare into sustainability evaluations of food and investigate tradeoffs and synergies with
environmental, social or economic issues. Following this framework in future assessments facilitates
the integration of animal welfare into food-related policy assessments and public decisions.