AI is trying to bridge the communication gap between people and pets. Who needs that?
The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience at the London School of Economics will deploy considerable resources to bridge the communication gap between species. There is much to gain from the endeavour. For too long, a human-centric view of personhood — which ignores intelligent, feeling creatures as diverse as corvids and apes, dolphins and elephants — has resulted in cruelty on the one hand and limited how we interact with these animals on the other. But when it comes to pets, do we really need to know what they are 'saying'? More importantly, predictive models may tell people what they want to hear, rather than what the animal 'means'.
Take the pooch you have had for years. The eagerness with which he greets every member of the family when they return, the comfort of every winter cuddle, even the manipulative looks as they seek scraps from the table — what if it was all just translated to 'food giver here'? And the disdain of the domestic feline might ruin the self-esteem of the most secure persons. These words can be lies of translation. Because the language people share with their pets is no less complex or complete than those humans reserve for each other. In essence, it is a love beyond words. Let's not ruin that.
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