More-than-Human AI

What would AI look like if humans were not the only stakeholders whose interests mattered?

Most AI assumes humans are the primary users and beneficiaries. Yet AI increasingly affects animals, ecosystems and the wider environment while also creating significant environmental impacts of its own.

This challenge explores how AI might be designed for multispecies futures and more sustainable relationships between humans, technology and the natural world.

Indicative potential partners

• Interactive Technologies Institute
• Nokia Bell Labs
• Northumbrian Water
• Dogs Trust
• The Wildlife Trusts
• DEFRA

Illustrative research directions

• AI for biodiversity and conservation
• Multispecies participation
• Animal-centred AI
• Environmental sensing
• AI and ecological governance
• Sustainability and AI
• More-than-human design
• Environmental impacts of AI

Indicative reading

• Lawson, S., Kirman, B. and Linehan, C., 2016. Power, participation, and the dog internet. Interactions, 23(4), pp.37-41. https://doi.org/10.1145/2942442

• Wakkary, R., 2021. Things we could design: For more than human-centered worlds. MIT press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/13649.001.0001

• Giaccardi, E. and Redström, J., 2020. Technology and more-than-human design. Design Issues, 36(4), pp.33-44. https://doi.org/10.1162/desi_a_00612

• Jarrahi, M.H. and Ahalt, S., 2025. What human-horse interactions may teach Us about effective human-AI interactions. Interactions, 33(1), pp.28-33. https://doi.org/10.1145/3778041

• Van Wynsberghe, A., 2021. Sustainable AI: AI for sustainability and the sustainability of AI. AI and Ethics, 1(3), pp.213-218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-021-00043-6

• Bossert, L. and Hagendorff, T., 2021. Animals and AI. The role of animals in AI research and application–An overview and ethical evaluation. Technology in Society, 67, p.101678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101678

• Inglezaki, K. 2026. Tagus Multispecies Atlas: Fostering affective multispecies interactions through counter-mapping. In Proceedings of the 2026 Conference on Creativity and Cognition (C&C ‘26). https://doi.org/10.1145/3803784.3809274