Emerging technologies including computer vision, accelerometers, and AI analysis are transforming our ability to detect welfare problems early and manage animals at individual rather than group level.
Technology cannot substitute for good welfare design, but it can detect problems earlier and enable interventions before suffering becomes severe. A cow identified as lame five days earlier receives treatment sooner and recovers faster. A sow showing nest-building behavior indicating imminent farrowing can receive human supervision. Fish showing altered swimming patterns can receive oxygen supplementation before mass mortality. The ethical risk is that technology becomes a substitute for fundamentally improving conditions rather than a tool within an overall welfare-positive system.