Using AI to ‘talk to animals’ might make us feel clever – but what, if anything, does it do for them?

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.