Best Friends AI in Animal Welfare Summit

AI is already in the tools animal welfare uses every day and its presence continues to grow.  It's a powerful tool with exponential lifesaving potential, but it also comes with risks. Now is the time for us to come together as a field to shape how AI is used rather than waiting for developers to define it for us.  

Every life saved in this field came from a decision a person made: a director who changed an intake policy, a foster who said yes, a staff person who did what it took to help a family stay together. These daily decisions, made with compassion and humanity at the center, are how more than two-thirds of U.S. shelters reached no-kill.

Keeping that work going and growing isn't without its challenges, and that's where we're seeing AI come in. AI doesn't save animals or make the decisions that do. It’s a tool that gives time back to the people who do the work only people can do. 

There's a lot of fear and uncertainty around AI, and it's reasonable. The technology is moving fast, and much of it is being built by people who don't understand this field or think about the people and pets in our communities the way we do.

The Best Friends AI in Animal Welfare Summit brought leaders from across animal welfare together with national organizations, academics, and technologists at Southern Utah University on October 9-10. During the Summit, the 57 participants worked through the hard questions to refine and finalize the Charter for the Responsible Use of AI in Animal Welfare, which will serve as shared principles for how the field uses AI.  

Shelter and rescue leaders from across the country. Southern Utah University staff, faculty and AI ethics experts. Technology advisors from outside the field. And leaders from ASPCA, Humane World for Animals, Petco Love, and PetSmart Charities, as well as Best Friends. 

What came out of those two days belongs to the whole field, not just the people who were in the room. The Charter for the Responsible Use of AI in Animal Welfare will be published soon. Fill out this form to have the charter delivered to your inbox.