Hi everyone! This week, for Blog Post 3, I wanted to discuss a subject about AI and how it could be used to navigate an ethical dilemma that has been going on for years, but has become particularly relevant recently. As AI has continued to advance, we have began to trust it way more based on not only statistics but also the fact that human involvement in certain situations can lead to many more errors rather than using AI. Animal testing for medicine, makeup, and products that we consume everyday has become more common than we think, and I believe this is a practice that should be eliminated due to the conditions that the animals are subjected to and the aftermath of the testing which is not only unethical, but can be cruel overall. This post will walk through some of the history of the origins and uses of animal testing, how this has affected household brands, and using AI as a solution.
History of Animal Testing
Source: https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/artificial-intelligence-could-be-promising-alternative-to-animal-models/
The use of animal testing dates back much farther than we would think, even before the introduction of modern medicine and the development of widespread technology. According to Advanced Science News, “Animal testing has been carried out for centuries, with the first references made as early the 3rd and 4th centuries BC in the writings of Greek physician-philosophers such as Aristotle (384-322 BC), who used animals to reveal important internal features in mammals”. Animal testing has evolved immensely past the original purpose it served. According to the article, “Without animal tests, it would be hard to imagine the advent of life changing medical innovations, such as vaccines, antibiotics, drugs like insulin treat diabetes, and a host of others”. This is where the ethical and moral comes in because even though animal testing has revolutionized healthcare, it comes at a very tragic cost of the animals involved and the situations that they have to endure.
Brands and Animal Testing
Source: https://www.finehomesandliving.com/featured/cosmetic-animal-cruelty-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/article_22f3191b-8ef2-50a6-962a-c540748a9b43.html
Many of the brands that we purchase products from regularly may be using animal testing to try to figure out the quality of the product or how it will be used by the people who are purchasing them. One industry that is a major culprit of animal testing is the cosmetic industry. I can speak from experience that recently I’ve seen more cosmetic products that have labels on them to prove that they don’t take part in animal testing, but many big names still do and it isn’t talked about enough. According to the article, “The animals most frequently used are mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs. In these tests for cosmetic products, they suffer through evaluations for skin irritation, eye irritation and any kind of toxicity. This in turn can cause severe damage to the animal, or worse – death”. This shows a major urgency to take action related to trying to stop animal testing, especially in industries such as cosmetics and medicine that rely on them heavily.
AI and an Animal Testing Solution
Sources: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/potential-of-artificial-intelligence-replacing-animal-testing-in-the-future/
AI has given hope to the issue of animal testing, and through new development of AI, animal testing may not be a practice used in the future. According to Sinha, “Start-ups like Verisim Life have started utilizing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning in biosimulation to replace animal testing in the nearby future. It is a San Francisco biotechnology start-up focused on building digital animal simulations to reduce animal testing for drug discovery”. This is a great solution because rather than having to use the animals that are typically involved in animal testing, companies can use the AI generated simulation to mimic the same conditions that they would get if they were to use an animal.
Additional benefits of AI
Source: https://www.pharmavoice.com/news/Quris-pharma-artificial-intelligence-animal-testing-mouse/622640/
Another common debate would be the reliability of AI. In the case of animal testing, AI might provide accurate results. According to Gibney, “Among many examples of animal trails failing to translate to success in humans is the development of an HIV/AID vaccine. Dozens of trials in primates succeeded in finding what looked like a viable candidate, but for years those vaccines didn’t result in human immunity to the virus”. In these situations where animal testing is proving to be inaccurate in a way, why continue to test with the animals? If there are systems and AI that exist to provide overall more accurate results, there are better options to use. Additionally, Gibney states, “For artificial intelligence, data is king – the more data fed into a system, the better it can “learn” and predict what could come next”. This is interesting because if certain results that the AI used for pharmacy and medical development are proven to be successful, the people involved in the studies can use results that already exist as starting point for future trails, or as justification for existing trials.
Ethics and Conclusion
Usually, when it comes to AI and ethics, the question is more about the ethics behind the AI and whether or not it is morally correct to use. In the case of animal testing, I believe this situation shows that the animals are not being treated ethically and in a safe manner, and that if AI were to be used to stop animal testing, it would give AI a lot of credibility for providing a great benefit for a variety of AI uses. What does everyone think about this?
Thanks,
Jhanvi Desai