Multispecies Justice & Technology: Human-Centred Design Is Not Enough

Whilst technology has enabled humans to colonise the earth, it has also largely eliminated our need to negotiate with nonhuman species with whom we share the planet. The ongoing destruction of the very ecosystems on which all living beings depend is arguably a result of the ability that technology affords us to displace and exploit other species with little consequence. If we are to create a more ecologically and ethically sustainable future, we need a radically new approach to technological development; we need to ‘think outside the (human) box’. As a case in point, pervasive computing technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), are fundamentally human-centred yet increasingly impact non-human animals (‘animals’). By incorporating political philosophies of multispecies justice, the field of animal-computer interaction takes an animal-centred perspective on the study, design and development of technology for animals, as primary beneficiaries, and with animals, as design contributors. However, current legal and ethical frameworks do not adequately support more-than-human approaches to technological development, thus failing to address its significant cross-species impacts. To address this critical shortcoming, recent literature points towards a multispecies reinterpretation of governance policies regulating the responsible development and use of emerging technologies, to assess the ethical and ecological sustainability of technological development. Alongside multispecies justice philosophies, such proposals leverage work which utilises human rights jurisprudence to examine opportunities offered by multispecies justice theories to address current and future challenges to achieving sustainability. Building on this work, our research seeks to develop a multispecies justice framework for technological development extending human rights principles to non-human species for the ethical advancement of technology. Drawing on human rights traditions, particularly the principles of equality, dignity and protection from harm, to strengthen the inclusive and relational interaction model of multispecies justice theory, we aim to provide an intra-human and interspecies approach to technological development, aligned with values and principles promoted within animal-computer interaction. Because technology impacts existing and future generations of all species, technological development must be approached within a multispecies ethical framework.