Scientists To Decipher Whale Language Using AI
The groundbreaking project aims to ‘talk’ with the mammals by using artificial intelligence that will decode the language of sperm whales.
A groundbreaking project that aims to decipher the language of whales has been announced by some of the world’s leading scientific institutions.
Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) will unite leading experts in linguistics, artificial intelligence, marine biology, robotics, and more, as they use cutting-edge technology to interpret the language of sperm whales.
Sperm whales are known to be incredibly intelligent, and have the largest brains of any animal on earth. Their language system employs various sounds to communicate, including short and loud ‘clicks’ that are also used to locate their prey through echolocation.
Now, advances in AI will help scientists to interpret, understand, and potentially even communicate with these mysterious and magnificent mammals.
Project CETI will capture millions of whale sounds and codas through specialized video and audio recording devices. The sounds will then be analyzed by advanced natural language processing - the form of artificial intelligence that is used by programmes like Alexa and Siri.
By understanding the complex system of communication that sperm whales use, Project CETI says it aims to help “accelerate conservation efforts”, and potentially “transform the way we understand our relationship with the natural world”. And the unprecedented work is described as “a significant step towards meaningful interspecies communication”.
“It’s not about us talking to them, this is about listening to the whales in their own setting, on their own terms”. Shane Gero, founder of the Dominica Sperm Whale Project and a member of Project CETI, told National Geographic. “It’s the idea that we want to know what they’re saying—that we care.”
Scientists from many of the world’s leading institutions, including MIT, Harvard, and the National Geographic Society are joining together on the collaborative project.
“Project CETI is a human journey into our relationship with other creatures on the planet,” said the project’s founder and leader David Gruber, Presidential Professor of Biology and Environmental Sciences, City University of New York. “Through an understanding of a non-human species and the power of collaborative research, we are hoping to ignite a worldwide movement to reshape our relationship with life on earth and connect to and learn from nature.”
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