Artificial Intelligence Is on the Verge of Revolutionizing Our Understanding of Animal Communication

Scientists are making remarkable strides in decoding the complexities of animal communication thanks to recent advances in artificial intelligence. From the astonishing tool-making abilities of New Caledonian crows to the intricate sound patterns of sperm whales, machine learning is opening an unprecedented window into understanding the “languages” of other living beings — a breakthrough that could revolutionize conservation efforts and reshape our view of our place in the natural world.

According to Scientific American, a website specializing in scientific research, the question of animal communication has long fascinated humans. However, fears of falling into anthropomorphism have historically hindered Western scientific studies in this area. Now, with the emergence of AI models capable of analyzing vast amounts of data, researchers like behavioral ecologist Christian Rutz believe that we are “on the brink of a major breakthrough in understanding communicative animal behavior.”

The nonprofit Earth Species Project, led by Aza Raskin, is working to collect diverse datasets from different species and build machine learning models to analyze them, aiming to decipher animal sounds. Similarly, the Cetacean Translation Initiative (CETI), involving scientist Shane Gero, focuses on analyzing the distinctive clicks (“codas”) that sperm whales use to communicate. The team has already succeeded in using a neural network to identify individual whales with an accuracy of up to 99% based solely on their vocalizations.