Computer Vision bias toward animals?

Since the CV system is trained on user observations it’s clear than any bias would be a result of how it’s trained and therefore a reflection of the bias in the user base rather than something intentionally programmed into it.

Even though it’s a reflection of how users interact with the site it’s always important to be aware of bias in anything, especially if it’s potentially going to be used for scientific purposes, as you need to understand the bias and how to factor it into any study done relying on the data.

An example of this is where I work. One of our focal species is a primate. The region is a mature karst area with dense vegetation which limits visibility, making it impossible to do extensive land-based surveys, and it’s an island. As a result the vast majority of survey work needs to be done by boat and, due to the steepness of the cliffs that means that it’s impossible to see into the interior in most areas. Therefore observations are biased to the periphery of the island. This means that all studies of behavior, feeding habits, sleeping site preference, etc have a similar inbuilt bias due to the limitations on the data. This in turn has implications for conservation of the species, the local economy as it’s a tourist area and certain areas need to be protected, politics and policy as this is a species of national importance, etc.

Bias is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just something that we need to be cognizant of.