Preparing "AI, Animals, and Us" for publication

My book “AI, Animals, and Us. What Artificial Intelligence Holds for All Species” will be published by HarperOne in early 2027. It covers eight areas in which AI is reshaping the lives of animals – from interspecies communication and companion animals to factory farming, alternative proteins, and digital minds. The book is aimed at a mainstream audience: people who might describe themselves as "animal lovers" but aren't necessarily vegan or engaged in advocacy, using AI as a fresh angle to engage people on topics like factory farming, wild animal suffering, and AI safety.

During the incubator, Henrike, René, and Lexley assisted with preparing the manuscript for publication. Their work included fact-checking statistics across all chapters and flagging figures that needed updating; verifying and sourcing references; finding examples, analogies, and pop culture references to make the text more relatable to a general audience; sourcing Creative Commons images, illustrations, and ideas for graphs; and drafting ideas for social media content around the book launch.

A key challenge was making difficult topics like factory farming accessible for readers whose primary interests might lie in interspecies communication and companion animals. The team's feedback was invaluable in testing different approaches for making things relatable, and in ensuring the book's claims were accurate and up to date.