Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how we work, communicate and consume information. It should come as no surprise that animal rights activists are thinking about how they can use it, too.
Some activist organizations are already investing in AI to conduct research, automate tasks, develop campaign materials and create digital content. For animal agriculture, AI could make activist campaigns faster and easier to execute while making an already challenging information environment more difficult to navigate.
PETA was an early adopter of AI-generated content. In 2023, the organization partnered with an artist to create provocative AI-generated artwork targeting dairy production, including concepts titled “Dairy Is Scary” and “What Kind of Man Steals Food From a Baby!?”
That same year, PETA aired an advertisement featuring a computer-generated calf as a shopper considered purchasing cheese. While digitally created, the calf was given the ear tag name and number of a real calf shown in a photograph associated with a PETA investigation.
PETA identified the imagery as computer-generated rather than actual farm footage. Still, the example demonstrates how synthetic imagery can be combined with real-world allegations to create emotionally charged campaign content.
PETA has continued exploring emerging technology through its “Innovate to Liberate” initiative, highlighting AI-powered personalized emails and text messages, dialogue in virtual reality experiences and robotic animals for public outreach.
AI was also a topic at the 2025 Animal & Vegan Advocacy (AVA) Summit. Panelists discussed “Chat NGO,” an AI workspace designed for nonprofit organizations, and opportunities to use AI for research and campaign graphics.
The conversation also revealed concerns. Karol Orzechowski of Faunalytics, a research organization that provides data and resources to the animal rights movement, cautioned that AI-generated videos have the potential to “undercut undercover investigations on farms.” Artificial imagery presented as real, he warned, could damage the credibility of authentic undercover footage.
Faunalytics has continued discussing AI adoption within the movement. In February 2026, the organization published “AI In Animal Advocacy: Promise, Peril, Or Patience?” describing activists as experimenting with AI while debating its ethical and strategic implications. Faunalytics also acknowledged incorporating more AI into its own work while cautioning against abandoning established relationships, strategies and institutional knowledge for the technology.
That tension should also catch the attention of animal agriculture. Images and videos have long been central to activist campaigns targeting farms, processing facilities and food companies. With generative AI, an image allegedly depicting poor animal care no longer necessarily needs to come from an actual farm or plant. Video, audio and other materials can also be fabricated or manipulated.
The opposite problem exists, too. As audiences become more aware of AI-generated content, they may become skeptical of authentic material. Simply dismissing damaging content as “AI” without evidence is not a credible response.
Other organizations are putting AI capabilities directly into the hands of animal rights activists.
Open Paws, an organization focused on “building AI for animal advocates,” surveyed 194 people representing 142 organizations in March 2026 about their use of AI and has partnered with more than 30 groups on machine-learning models designed to predict effective approaches to animal activism. It is also developing open-source tools, including an application that monitors the internet for what Open Paws considers misinformation about animals and animal agriculture and uses AI to draft responses.
Vegan Hacktivists is similarly working to expand AI capabilities across the movement. The organization says it has supported more than 350 animal-focused organizations with technology. Its eight-week Amplify AI cohort received more than 1,100 registrations and covers AI agents, automation, research, coding and media. It has also shared examples of using AI to automate more than 95% of an events-data pipeline and support social media, search engine optimization and grant-related work.
Taken together, these examples show that AI’s role in animal rights activism isn’t hypothetical. The technology can help activists research companies, monitor conversations, create content and execute campaigns at greater speed and scale.
So, what should animal agriculture and meat companies do?
Prepare before a campaign starts. Understand emerging activist issues and determine how communications, legal, animal care, security and leadership teams will respond if questionable AI-generated content surfaces.
Maintain strong documentation, including accurate records and original photographs and videos. If suspicious content appears, verify its origin and authenticity before reacting publicly. Calling something “AI-generated” without evidence could create another reputational problem.
And keep communicating. Credible information from farmers, veterinarians, animal care experts and food companies will only become more important as activists use technology to create and distribute messaging more quickly.
AI is unlikely to replace the activist tactics we already monitor. Instead, it may amplify them. PETA, Faunalytics, Open Paws and Vegan Hacktivists are already demonstrating how AI can support everything from campaign imagery and personalized messaging to research, monitoring and automation.
For animal agriculture, the takeaway isn’t to fear every new AI tool or assume every damaging image is fake. It’s to understand how the technology is being used and prepare for a world where activist campaigns can be developed faster and spread more widely, and where seeing something online is no longer enough to prove that it happened.
Originally published by meatingplace. This article was written by Hannah Thompson-Weeman, President and CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, and first appeared on meatingplace. It is republished here with permission. Read the original article on meatingplace.
