AI and Animals in Freedom

Published on May 2, 2025, filed under misc. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

What if we decided not to dominate animals anymore? I prompted ChatGPT and Gemini, discarded the poor results, and am sharing the good results here, licensed under CC0:

Animals in a European city (with a goat on a roof), neatly arranged, free but looking like they’d be killed any minute. — Off to a bad start—ChatGPT was in a particularly gloomy “mood” that day, and I couldn’t get it to produce anything more cheerful. (This was just so not cheerful, I had to include it.)

Dolphins frolicking, other animals at the shore amidst ruins in a beautiful setting.

Animals cheerfully jumping from the bottom right to the top left. — This feels a bit “too much” to me, but then, it also has a nice joyous–rebellious energy to it.

Deer and monkeys undisturbed in a Chinese or Taiwanese city center.

Animals among humans in an African city scene, not to be held hostage, tortured, or killed.

European fields filled with various animals, not molested or eaten by humans.

Pandas and monkeys and other animals among humans in a seren Asian landscape.

Small islands with ruins surrounded by a pristine sea, flown over by storks.

Free cattle in what appears to be American plains.

Colorful, beautiful corals, fish, and sea life.

A shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean, beautifully lit, with fish and other sea creatures.

But why, you ask? A brief—and not reckless—test, like Tara fitting the greater scheme of experimenting with AI tools to outline and promote other, more humane realities. Which includes living side by side with, and not dominating, animals.

If you, like me, are a vegan in Tech, feel free to join Vegan Web Developers!

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, Frontend Dogma).

I love trying things—in web development and engineering management, but also in politics and philosophy, where I hold to one idea in particular: that we can only be well if we take good care of everyone. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my perspectives and experiences. (Please share feedback: Interpret charitably, keep it friendly, but do be critical.)