Using AI to ‘talk to animals’ might make us feel clever – but what, if anything, does it do for them?
TL;DR
As animal behaviorists increasingly use AI in their research, they grapple with how to wield the technology responsibly I’m sitting in a small boat in Shark Bay, Australia, eavesdropping on a conversation between some of Earth’s most intelligent beings. The motor is off, the turquoise sea is glassy, and Stephanie King and I are motionless, transfixed by the whistles, clicks and squeezy, whirring noises made by the dolphins swimming below us.
Nauti's Take
For a small team, the first useful test is a tightly scoped dataset with annotated calls, reproducible analysis, and a human baseline. The next question is whether the output improves a concrete welfare or conservation decision; with one reported source and no validated translation layer, claims about animal communication should remain hypotheses until independently tested.
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