Artificial intelligence (AI) may soon enable humans to communicate with animals by interpreting and understanding their various forms of communication, including vocalizations, body language, and more, say animal researchers.
Using AI tools, scientists are analyzing different types of animal communication to determine if they can comprehend and have conversations with animals in a way that humans do.
“Machine learning has opened the door to understanding languages that we have yet to interpret,” said Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Earth Species Project. He predicts that this breakthrough will occur within the next two years.
Raskin told Scientific American, “What’s surprising is that we may be able to communicate with animals even before we fully understand their language and expressions of emotions like ‘sorrow,’ ‘mother,’ or ‘hunger’.”
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Christian Rutz, an ecologist at the University of St Andrews, also believes that AI advancements are paving the way for a better understanding of animal communication. He stated, “People are beginning to realize that we are on the verge of making significant progress in deciphering how animals communicate.”
Researchers are also exploring the use of AI models to interpret other aspects of animal communication beyond vocalizations. For example, Con Slobodchikoff, an animal language researcher, aims to create an AI model that can interpret dogs’ movements and facial expressions when interacting with their owners.
“We have been so focused on voice as the primary means of communication that we have overlooked other important signals,” Slobodchikoff said. Despite the challenges, he is confident that machine learning will uncover more about what pets are trying to communicate.
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According to Slobodchikoff, dogs communicate through more than just barks. (iStock)
AI advancements are not only aiding in the interpretation of traditional pets but also extending our understanding of communication with other animals. For example, Project CETI’s lead biologist, Shane Gero, uses AI to detect and translate sperm whale vocalizations. Using underwater microphones, Gero’s team tracks the sound patterns of sperm whales, known as codas, and plans to use AI to comprehend and translate them.
Gero started by inputting manually transcribed codas into an algorithm, which successfully identified a group of whales with 99% accuracy. In the future, Project CETI hopes to develop a “whale chatbot.”
Project CETI aims to translate the clicks of sperm whales into a language people can understand. (Photo by Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has also developed a device that can better identify and distinguish the sounds of over 1,000 bird species. The Earth Species Project plans to use AI-generated bird calls to test how zebras respond to them.
“We can essentially conduct a Turing test for finches, crows, or even whales,” Raskin explained, referring to the ability to deceive animals into believing they are communicating with their own species.
