Rébecca Kleinberger and Lena Ashooh
As technology continues to advance, animals are increasingly encountering computational systems in ways that existing regulatory frameworks may not adequately address. From automated farming equipment to wildlife tracking devices and interactive pet toys, technology reshapes the lived experience of animals, yet ethical and regulatory considerations often lag behind implementation.
Rébecca Kleinberger (above) and Lena Ashooh (below) received a CAF grant to examine some of the limitations in current oversight mechanisms for animal–technology interactions, research, and deployment. Drawing from extensive reviews of the literature, their project analyzes existing practices across different animal contexts (including pets, animals in laboratories, wildlife, and farmed animals), engages with a broad array of stakeholders from research, industry, and animal advocacy, and proposes policy frameworks and institutional oversight approaches for more ethical technology development with animals. The aim is to contribute conceptual and policy resources to better balance humans and animals’ interests in emerging technological contexts. By reframing the dialogue around animals and technology, their goal is to help establish more appropriate standards that acknowledge animals as participant users with agency rather than only subjects of technological systems. This work contributes to evolving discussions on institutional responsibilities in the rapidly expanding domain where animals and technology intersect.
Dr. Rébecca Kleinberger (LinkedIn) is an Assistant Professor of Music, Humanics and AI at Northeastern University and an affiliate researcher at Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of technology. She directs the INTERACT Animal Lab, a multidisciplinary research team dedicated to leveraging technology to enrich animals’ lives. Her research has been featured in academic venues and media outlets including The New York Times, BBC, and CNN, with her TED-featured talk reaching over four million views. Her photo was taken by Gabriel Miller.
The research of Lena Ashooh (Instagram || LinkedIn) focuses on the social construction of animal categories and ideas about animals. She researches how concepts of these categories, and stereotypes, images, and beliefs about them, play a functional role in the denigration of members of those groups. She is the Assistant Lab Manager for Irene Pepperberg’s parrot cognition lab, where she studies two parrots’ intellectualism, and is a Research Assistant in Rebecca Kleinberger’s INTERACT Animal Lab, where she researches animal-technology interactions. Lena will be completing graduate studies in legal philosophy as a Rhodes Scholar after graduation.