AI’s Next Trick? Speaking Dolphin
Denise Herzing, the founder and director of the Wild Dolphin Project, is using AI to help understand audio and video footage of the marine mammals.
The Wild Dolphin Project, led by Denise Herzing, aims to unravel the language of dolphins through artificial intelligence. Herzing first became fascinated with dolphin communication during a 1985 trip to the Bahamas to study Atlantic spotted dolphins. Over the course of 40 years, her research team has amassed extensive video and audio footage of dolphins, which they are now collaborating with scientists from Georgia Tech and Google DeepMind to structure into a coherent language.
The team has even attempted two-way communication using an underwater wearable computer to play dolphin sounds, such as those indicating items like scarves and habitats like sargassum. However, decoding dolphin communication remains a challenge, as distinguishing mimicry from actual understanding is difficult. While some patterns have been identified, a true two-way conversation between humans and dolphins is still a long way off due to the need to better understand dolphin culture.
Despite the complexities, Herzing believes that understanding dolphins could provide valuable insights about ourselves and our relationship with the planet. Herzing's team has noticed that people often think dolphins would express concern about human impact on the ocean, indicating a shared awareness of environmental issues.
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