Navigating AI-Animal Alignment: A Reply to Coghlan and Parker

Abstract This commentary responds to Coghlan and Parker's commentary on our paper "AI Alignment: The Case for Including Animals" (2025). We clarify that our emphasis on "basic" alignment with animal welfare in large language models reflected pragmatic constraints rather than principled limits. Consequently, we agree that it is valuable to aim for varying degrees of alignment with animal welfare depending on the context of the AI application. We argue that adequate consideration of animals' interests entails an incrementalist requirement: advancing beyond basic alignment wherever possible. Recent developments, including the incorporation of animal welfare into Claude's constitution, suggest that such progress is both feasible and desirable.