Scientists Use AI to Monitor Pigs’ Psychological Wellbeing

What’s in an oink? We will soon find out! New research into the interpretation of pig calls, has introduced an AI pig translator that can turn grunts, oinks, squeals, and snuffles into readable emotions. The hope is that this new technology will monitor a pig’s wellbeing and build towards the more ethical treatment of farmed animals. 

The algorithm, once developed into a mobile app, could prove instrumental in helping farmers provide better care for their pigs. More specifically, accurate readings can be attributed to vocalization that was initially derived from specific contexts. “Previous research has shown that domestic pig vocalizations can be distinguished into high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency calls (LF). HF calls (screams, squeals) are common in negative contexts, while LF calls (grunts) prevail in neutral and positive situations,” the report clarifies.

In recent years, the emotional intelligence of farmed animals has sparked intense debate among scientific circles. A 2015 essay Thinking Pigs: A Comparative Review of Cognition, Emotion, and Personality, explores the pig’s complex emotional abilities related to self-awareness, sensory abilities, learning skills, memory, time perception, personality, and social cognition. The researchers deduced that “pigs display consistent behavioral and emotional characteristics that have been described variously as personality. e.g., coping styles, response types, temperament, and behavioral tendencies.”

The incorporation of AI could be the next step in the perception of farmed animals as sentient beings in need of an environment that promotes emotional stability and psychological welfare. Especially since the algorithm yields impressive results when pigs are observed in a no cross-classification environment. “For the valence, the classification of calls used for deriving the discriminant functions (i.e. no cross-classification) reached a rather high success of above 80% for the LF calls and 95% for the HF calls,” the researchers report.

But while technologies are catching up, public opinion may be more difficult to sway. According to a 2020 survey published by Science Direct performed in Brazil, the world’s fourth-largest pig producer, pig farmers need more convincing of the value of psychological wellbeing. The findings confirmed that “most farmers were satisfied with animal welfare standards at their farms. They saw no justification for further investments to improve it. These perceptions are aligned with the farmers’ understanding of animal welfare, mostly comprising good biological functioning.”

This idea that proper biological functioning defines animal welfare is a common attitude among farmers. “Intensive pig production systems are a source of stress,” the survey clarifies, “which is linked to reduced animal welfare and increased antimicrobial use.” But if animals appear to be well physically, most farmers may not understand, or even believe, that their pigs are experiencing such extreme stress. In this context, the algorithm may just prove to be more powerful than peer-reviewed essays and provide a more direct connection between a farmer and their animals.

Read more articles on the treatment of farmed animals:

• 10 Cruel Things Done to Farm Animals That No One Would Do to a Cat or Dog
• 10 Alarming Facts About the Lives of Factory Farmed Animals
• Duh! 6 Surprising Facts on the Intelligence of Farmed Animals
• Why Are So Many Farmed Animals Dying in Preventable Barn Fires?
• Fish: The New Factory Farmed Animals

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