Can Finance Activism End Factory Farming? AI, Divestment, and Animal Advocacy with Richie Richardson

Jasmin and Mariann sit down with Thomas "Richie" Manandhar Richardson — AI Impact Director at Vegan Hacktivists and former Director of Research at Bryant Research — for a conversation that covers two of the most urgent frontiers in animal advocacy: financial activism and artificial intelligence. Richie breaks down the hard economics of divestment campaigns (spoiler: one finance paper estimates 85% of all US wealth would need to divest from fossil fuels before companies feel any real impact), explains where financial pressure can actually work, and maps out how factory farming could be stigmatized the way coal has been — making it too risky for investors to touch. Then the conversation shifts to AI: how under-resourced organizations and grassroots activists can use tools like ChatGPT and Claude to do research, build websites, and run campaigns at a scale that was simply impossible before. And here's the part that might surprise you — the pro-animal content you're already posting online may literally be shaping the values of the next generation of AI models. In this episode: -Why divestment campaigns rarely cut off funding for factory farming — and the rare exceptions -How international development banks (like the World Bank's IFC) are a more promising pressure point in the Global South — including a campaign that blocked a $200M loan to Brazilian beef giant Marfrig -Framing factory farming as a risky investment: disease outbreaks, insurance costs, and stranded assets -AI as a force multiplier for animal advocates — and Vegan Hacktivists' free Amplify for Animals course (returning soon!) -How organizations like Sentient Futures and CAML are working with AI labs to build benchmarks that increase AI compassion toward animals Full show notes available here: https://www.ourhenhouse.org/ep952 Our Hen House is a nonprofit. Subscribe, like, and share to help us keep doing this work — and if you want to go deeper, become a Flock member at ourhenhouse.org/support.