Cross-posted from the Effective Altruism Forum. Original link here. Co-written with a language model. TL;DR: Large language models like ChatGPT influence the choices of hundreds of millions of users — including when it comes to food. Yet in ambiguous cases (e.g. “Recommend me a quick dinner”), ChatGPT often defaults to factory-farmed meat dishes. This post argues that such defaults are not neutral and that OpenAI’s assistant could reduce enormous suffering by subtly favoring plant-based meals when no preference is stated. Drawing on behavioral science, AI alignment principles, and messaging research from Pax Fauna and the Sentience Institute, I suggest concrete steps OpenAI could take and invite readers to send feedback to OpenAI to shape the ethical defaults of future AI systems. ---------------------------------------- Factory farming likely causes more suffering than all human violence combined. This claim might seem extreme at first, but the numbers back it up. Over 80 billion land animals and up to 3 trillion aquatic animals are killed each year for food, most enduring severe suffering for weeks or months. Confinement, mutilation without pain relief, and deprivation of natural behaviors are common in standard industrial practices. For example: * Broiler chickens suffer from painful bone deformities and lameness due to unnatural growth rates. * Egg-laying hens are confined in cages so small they cannot spread their wings. * Fish are killed by asphyxiation, freezing, or live gutting — often without stunning. If we conservatively assume each of 50 billion land animals experiences just two months of intense suffering per year, that’s over 8 billion animal-years of suffering annually. This dwarfs even the cumulative human toll of organized violence throughout history (around 2 billion human-years of suffering in the 20th century, which is likely an overestimate). In terms of suffering intensity, duration, and sheer numbers, factory farming plausibly exceed

Animal Outlook appealed the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Civil Division's dismissal of its lawsuit against the American Heart Association under the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act, alleging that, in exchange for a fee, AHA allows companies to display its "Heart-Check" mark on certain meat products and market them as “heart healthy”--counter to its own prior statements about the effects on cardiovascular health of consuming those products. The lawsuit also alleges that AHA promotes its Heart-Check certification program as using standards more stringent than the government’s standards for beef, when, in fact, AHA only uses the government’s minimum standards.

Hello everyone! We’re pleased to announce our first cage-free commitment from a supermarket: Franco Supermercado, a retailer with four stores in Arequipa and one in Lima, has committed to selling only 100% cage-free eggs by the end of 2026. Commitment link: You can see the publication of the commitment in this LINK. Scale: National (Perú) Timeline:  Compromiso Verde first established contact during a visit to Arequipa in April 2023. We followed up during a second trip in September 2024, where we arranged an in-person meeting. After several months without a response, we successfully reengaged the company by sending a corporate gift for Friendship Day. This gesture led to two additional face-to-face meetings in February 2025, during which we also explored how Compromiso Verde could support them in developing a cage-free egg farm through our PROBA certification program for local producers. ARBA began conversations with Franco Supermercado in November 2024 through emails, WhatsApp messages, and phone calls. Who: Compromiso Verde and ARBA Unsuccessful Tactics: None. Successful Tactics: In-person meetings at the company’s offices in Lima and Arequipa, delivered a corporate gift, and offered support for cage-free egg production through the PROBA program. Scalability: This commitment is significant as it comes from a supermarket chain with locations in Peru's two largest cities. Follow Up: We will stay in touch to request reports and validate compliance with the commitment.  Thank you!