Scientists Use AI To Decode Pig Calls (theguardian.com) 53
Researchers have now harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to infer how pigs are feeling on the basis of their grunts. The Guardian reports: Scientists believe that the AI pig translator -- which turns oinks, snuffles, grunts and squeals into emotions -- could be used to automatically monitor animal wellbeing and pave the way for better livestock treatment on farms and elsewhere. "We have trained the algorithm to decode pig grunts," said Dr Elodie Briefer, an expert in animal communication who co-led the work at the University of Copenhagen. "Now we need someone who wants to develop the algorithm into an app that farmers can use to improve the welfare of their animals."
Working with an international team of colleagues, Briefer trained a neural network to learn whether pigs were experiencing positive emotions, such as happiness or excitement, or negative emotions, such as fear and distress, using audio recordings and behavioral data from pigs in different situations, from birth through to death. Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers describe how they used the AI to analyze the acoustic signatures of 7,414 pig calls recorded from more than 400 animals. While most of the recordings came from farms and other commercial settings, others came from experimental enclosures where pigs were given toys, food and unfamiliar objects to nose around and explore.
The scientists used the algorithm to distinguish calls linked to positive emotions from those linked to negative emotions. The different noises represented emotions across the spectrum and reflected positive situations, such as huddling with littermates, suckling their mothers, running about and being reunited with the family, to negative situations ranging from piglet fights, crushing, castration and waiting in the abattoir. The researchers found that there were more high-pitched squeals in negative situations. Meanwhile, low-pitched grunts and barks were heard across the board, regardless of their predicament. Short grunts, however, were generally a good sign of porcine contentment.
Working with an international team of colleagues, Briefer trained a neural network to learn whether pigs were experiencing positive emotions, such as happiness or excitement, or negative emotions, such as fear and distress, using audio recordings and behavioral data from pigs in different situations, from birth through to death. Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers describe how they used the AI to analyze the acoustic signatures of 7,414 pig calls recorded from more than 400 animals. While most of the recordings came from farms and other commercial settings, others came from experimental enclosures where pigs were given toys, food and unfamiliar objects to nose around and explore.
The scientists used the algorithm to distinguish calls linked to positive emotions from those linked to negative emotions. The different noises represented emotions across the spectrum and reflected positive situations, such as huddling with littermates, suckling their mothers, running about and being reunited with the family, to negative situations ranging from piglet fights, crushing, castration and waiting in the abattoir. The researchers found that there were more high-pitched squeals in negative situations. Meanwhile, low-pitched grunts and barks were heard across the board, regardless of their predicament. Short grunts, however, were generally a good sign of porcine contentment.
Gove me a f-ing break... (Score:2)
...could be used to automatically monitor animal wellbeing and pave the way for better livestock treatment on farms and elsewhere
So it takes decades and advanced AI to realize that squeezing a 350 lbs pig into a cage of roughly 1/2 square yard for the entirety of its life takes a toll on its well-being? Because somehow we just had ni freakin' way of k knowing until now, because we couldn't decode its squeaking and growling?
This must be the pinnacle of cynicism.
Ok, so you built cool AI because it was fun. Fair enough. But please, pretty-please, leave it at that. Don't drag "animal wellbeing" or any other lame-ass excuse of why this i
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And infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of keyboards. Statistically speaking, the post was one of the better attempts. Still gibberish but coherent gibberish.
Re: Gove me a f-ing break... (Score:2)
It is as if they try the hardest to avoid the actual and obvious subject. Not much unlike how AI and tech is used in dictatorships and elsewhere to control the population.
In one way there is more connection with the animal, but on the other hand a connection is lost, and the relationship is based on algorithmic cues. It is no longer purely organic, as it has been for thousands of years. We become part of the machine - do we trust the creators of the machine, do we make the animal a set of data and not reall
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...could be used to automatically monitor animal wellbeing and pave the way for better livestock treatment on farms and elsewhere
So it takes decades and advanced AI to realize that squeezing a 350 lbs pig into a cage of roughly 1/2 square yard for the entirety of its life takes a toll on its well-being?
No, why do you think that? The scientists are obviously trying to improve the well-being of pigs given the current regulation. This regulation can and should of course be improved and pig meat production even phased out at one point. But in the meantime we should of course welcome every tool that can improve the well-being of the pigs.
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squeezing a 350 lbs pig into a cage of roughly 1/2 square yard for the entirety of its life
This doesn't happen on any farm.
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squeezing a 350 lbs pig into a cage of roughly 1/2 square yard for the entirety of its life
This doesn't happen on any farm.
It generally happens at the butcher's, assuming you want to buy 350lbs of pork mince.
Re: Gove me a f-ing break... (Score:2)
I'ma leave this here. [albert-sch...tiftung.de]
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I'ma leave this here. [albert-sch...tiftung.de]
That is a misleading photo. Pigs are confined during farrowing, but are not kept that way "for their entire life" as the GPP stated. They certainly aren't confined to "half a square yard" which isn't enough space to even physically hold a pig.
Disclaimer: I am a veggie, so no pigs are mistreated on my behalf. I haven't eaten pork in 30 years.
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That is a misleading photo. Pigs are confined during farrowing, but are not kept that way "for their entire life" as the GPP stated. They certainly aren't confined to "half a square yard" which isn't enough space to even physically hold a pig.
I stand corrected [landschafftleben.at]. Half a square yard is only for small pigs. Pigs above 220 lbs get one full square yard.
Real game changer there. /s
Sorry for the German links, it's what comes up first when I google within my particular bubble. But y'all can use an online translator, I guess.
Disclaimer: I am a veggie, so no pigs are mistreated on my behalf. I haven't eaten pork in 30 years.
Good for you (I'm not being sarcastic, I admire that). I'm not a vegetarian, but I've stopped eating pork from industrial farming. My family used to grow & slaughter their own pigs. As my grandparents are dead / too old for that n
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> I stand corrected [landschafftleben.at]. Half a square yard is only for small pigs. Pigs above 220 lbs get one full square yard.
The photos you posted show pigs that are not confined to a square yard. What purpose are you trying to serve?
But yes, support local farmers. The fat tastes FAR better than factory farms. The diet has a lot to do with it.
We just ordered a breeding pair for this year and they'll have access to ten acres each, FWIW.
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The photos you posted show pigs that are not confined to a square yard. What purpose are you trying to serve?
Those are marketing photos.
Read the text for data. (1 sq yard is approx. 1 sq meter).
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> I stand corrected [landschafftleben.at]. Half a square yard is only for small pigs. Pigs above 220 lbs get one full square yard.
The photos you posted show pigs that are not confined to a square yard. What purpose are you trying to serve?
But yes, support local farmers. The fat tastes FAR better than factory farms. The diet has a lot to do with it.
We just ordered a breeding pair for this year and they'll have access to ten acres each, FWIW.
Or buy organic (or other animal welfare schemes). At least in the EU organic pigs have significantly more space and must also be able to go outside. Plus some other animal welfare benefits over non-organic pigs. You will of course have to pay a higher price for this since the production costs are higher.
But you should also realize that this kind of AI monitoring technology can also help animal welfare for those pigs. Sometimes pigs break a leg or get sick. If you have constant monitoring of their emotional
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Re: Gove me a f-ing break... (Score:2)
The farmer checking on pigs all day was never going to work, but this tech also isn't.
Once the farm is planned and built, all the processes are in place, and nobody is going to teatlr a $1 mio investment down just because "the pigs grunt unhappily" as per the AI. If one truly wants happy pigs: most of the knowledge is out there, any zoologist can pretty much tell you what species-appropriate husbandry looks like. It's not like we're already going out of our way but just don't know better - which would be th
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The farmer checking on pigs all day was never going to work, but this tech also isn't.
Well that's quite presumptuous because you don't know just how this technology is going to be applied. There will always be bad actors but technology like this decreases the amount of effort needed to avoid being one, so your response is unwarranted.
However, I can agree that the best way to address this problem in it's entirety is to develop pork substitute derived from plants that is cheaper than raising pigs. Price is the most important factor as your average human is a cheapskate.
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Well that's quite presumptuous because you don't know just how this technology is going to be applied.
This technology -- or any other, for that matter -- isn't going to be applied in a vacuum. If the name of the game was "improving life for pigs", there are a lot lower hanging fruits for that. So, yes, based on that line of reasoning, I can be presumptuous and right at the same time.
However, I can agree that the best way to address this problem in it's entirety is to develop pork substitute derived from plants that is cheaper than raising pigs.
That's not an "agreement" because that's not what I implied. (I also don't agree with that statement, but that's another pair of shoes.)
Price is the most important factor as your average human is a cheapskate.
That's a problem of capitalism in general: that there's strong incentive to "optim
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However, I can agree that the best way to address this problem in it's entirety is to develop pork substitute derived from plants that is cheaper than raising pigs.
I also don't agree with that statement, but that's another pair of shoes.
What better way is there to ensure the pigs are treated well then taking away profit-driven incentives to raise them?
Usually the solution is regulation (i.e.: regulate for proper farming conditions)
Hardly a solutions because as I stated earlier, there will always be bad actors. Anti-government types have no qualms with running afoul of regulation.
Re: Gove me a f-ing break... (Score:2)
What better way is there to ensure the pigs are treated well then taking away profit-driven incentives to raise them?
It's not only about the pigs, it's also about the humans. And about agricultural resources.
"Taking away incentives" for cheating sounds like a good idea, but doesn't work by simply just eliminating every product we depend on one after another.
Re: Gove me a f-ing break... (Score:2)
I think I might have been not explicit enough in my previous reply, so in case that wasn't clear, here's what I meant: what makes you believe that manufacturers of plant-based substitutes are not going to cheat six ways from Sunday on every occasion they get, given a profit incentive, to the detriment of our health or overexploitation of resources?
(This on top of the fact that I don't believe plant-based substitutes are a good enough alternative for us to go all-in on at a global level, but that's a differe
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doesn't work by simply just eliminating every product we depend on one after another.
Why not?
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what makes you believe that manufacturers of plant-based substitutes are not going to cheat six ways from Sunday on every occasion they get, given a profit incentive, to the detriment of our health or overexploitation of resources?
I don't. In fact, I expect it from all food companies to engineer foods to boost profits at the expense of our health which is why it will go on until solid legislation is laid out to prevent this kind of action. As for over-exploitation, farms are regulated in a fashion that prevents killing the soil, so the only thing left is the people.
This on top of the fact that I don't believe plant-based substitutes are a good enough alternative for us to go all-in on at a global level,
Not yet but it's been shown that it's possible to create a good enough simulacra to fool most people with ground beef. I see no reason that this cannot be replicated wit
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That's more than half a square yard.
Re: Gove me a f-ing break... (Score:2)
squeezing a 350 lbs pig into a cage of roughly 1/2 square yard
How large is the front seat of a patrol car?
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Re: Gove me a f-ing break... (Score:2)
I do think that the AI work is pretty cool. That's not the part I'm up in arms about.
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My local abattoir was converted into the place where I go to see my doctor.
It still has stone pigs over the entrance door and blood channels in the floor.
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Blood channels in the floor sounds a bit frightening for a doctor's office.
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Pseudoscience. Ah, The Grauniad. Of course (Score:1)
#metoo
Do they care what the pod inhabitants feel? (Score:2)
I have an impression that decoding pig grunts is not that hard for humans anyway so it is not as impressive as say being able to understand insects or whatever. Some people use this as a work skill. It does raise a vision of pig or chicken farm efficiencies becoming more data driven but in a dystopian manner like people being farmed in Matrix pods.. tbh it is a bit stomach churning and does not seem even likely to improve anything either for the animal or the consumer.
Garbage in garbage out (Score:1)
Hard to train a model if you don't have a reference for positive or negative emotions. If these are decided from a human perspective the ANN will give a human centric emotion to each grunt. Sure we can guess what a happy pig is, but we(humans) wouldn't know. Until we can talk to pigs and ask them how they feel we won't need pig psychologists. But as an empathic human being* I prefer if our livestock aren't miserable under our care.
*Not proven, that I am a human being.
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Hard to train a model if you don't have a reference for positive or negative emotions. If these are decided from a human perspective the ANN will give a human centric emotion to each grunt. Sure we can guess what a happy pig is, but we(humans) wouldn't know. Until we can talk to pigs and ask them how they feel we won't need pig psychologists.
Many animals including pigs have quite obvious displays of emotion including sounds. Due to their long histories of being human companions cats and dogs are especially easy to read for humans (it is obviously an evolutionary advantage for a dog or cat to be able to convey emotions to humans). Most humans are for example able to see whether a dog is angry. But pig emotions are also quite easy to decipher for humans.
And no, this is not guesswork. It is decoding the emotional signals that the pigs are displayi
Common sense or AI ? (Score:2)
It turns out they ain't so happy in shit after all.
All of that high pitch squealing is a different language coming from a piggy than a human.
10-4
Pig Latin? (Score:2)
This is all interesting - like google translate for pigs. But I want to know how well they are doing on the Pig Latin translator. Curious minds want to know the thoughts of ancient Roman pigs.
Be careful who you talk to (Score:2)
There is no question this software will be used to decode conversations at the next Trump rally. Guard your privacy, my friends! Never speak to nerdy looking strangers with cell phones!
I'm starting to say "fuck science" (Score:2)
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This changes everything! (Score:2)
So, this study tells us that the little piggie didn't really go wee-wee-wee-wee all the way home?
First translation (Score:2)
Most heard: "why are they doing this to us!?" (Score:2)
Given what pigs are put through, it would be embarrassing to hear what they have to say.
That said, we have just really begun decent translation of the English language. It is a language for which we understand the culture, the history, and the nuances. We know nothing about how a pig thinks. A claim has been made then that is therefore completely biased ie. 'this is a human interpretation of what we humans, from our perspective, think the grunts mean'. More likely, we can discern different pig grunts.
What about the dataset (Score:2)
Been done (Score:2)
This feels like an enhancement though.
What are they going to call this program? (Score:2)