Straight from the horse’s mouth: New Israeli AI helps horses tell us when they are in pain
The research found a solution to an enduring challenge in both veterinary and human medicine: how to identify pain and distress in individuals who cannot communicate what they are experiencing.
Can a horse communicate its pain? Not typically, unless it is Mister Ed, the fictional talking horse from a popular 1960s TV show. In real life, horses and other animals often struggle to express their pain verbally, and even experienced caregivers may find it difficult to recognize signs of suffering. Dr. Marcelo Feighelstein, head of the Artificial Intelligence Systems Engineering Program at Tel Hai University in Kiryat Shmona, wanted to develop a solution for this communication gap.
His team created an AI framework called SHIC-XE, which analyzes video footage of horses to detect pain through facial expressions, body language, and movement patterns. The AI system provides stable, anatomically consistent explanations for its decisions, even when the horse moves or changes its position in the frame. This breakthrough could be particularly valuable in veterinary medicine and other fields where individuals are unable to communicate their pain, such as newborns, intensive care patients, dementia sufferers, stroke victims, and those with serious infections.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
