Google's Artificial Intelligence Endeavor Aims at Communicating with Dolphins
In a groundbreaking development, Google's DeepMind has launched DolphinGemma, an artificial intelligence (AI) project aimed at decoding and communicating with dolphins. This initiative, part of a broader research agenda focused on understanding complex natural behaviours and biological communication systems, represents a significant step towards bridging human understanding with dolphin cognition.
DolphinGemma is built on DeepMind’s Gemma family of AI models, which have been adapted to understand dolphin communication patterns from thousands of recorded dolphin sounds. The system, known as Cetacean Hearing Augmentation Telemetry (CHAT), is installed on modified smartphones and generates dolphin sounds associated with objects that dolphins like and regularly interact with, such as seagrass and researchers' scarves.
Training a foundation AI model specifically to learn the structure of dolphin vocalizations, CHAT aims to go beyond passive analysis, potentially allowing for deeper interaction with dolphins. However, early findings suggest that initial attempts at communication may appear random or lack cohesive patterns, prompting further study and refinement.
Future prospects for the project include improving the model’s capability to not only decode but actively engage in communication with dolphins, potentially enabling a two-way interactive system. DeepMind also plans to apply similar AI techniques to expand understanding of animal intelligence and interspecies communication.
Integration into more advanced robotics or simulation systems is another area of focus, leveraging DeepMind's expertise in AI agents and robotics to better test and apply discovered communication patterns. Ethical and responsible AI development considerations are also at the forefront, as stated by DeepMind, to ensure the technology benefits the world in a safe manner.
The Wild Dolphin Project (WDP) and researchers at Georgia Tech are partners in the development of DolphinGemma. The World's longest underwater study of dolphins, run by WDP since 1985, investigates a group of wild Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Bahamas. Over the decades, WDP has collected non-invasive underwater audio and video data associated with individual dolphins in the pod, detailing aspects of their relationships and life histories.
Google plans to release DolphinGemma as an open model this summer, allowing researchers studying other species, including bottlenose or spinner dolphins, to apply it more broadly. The project has yielded an extraordinary dataset containing 41 years of sound-behaviour pairings, such as courtship buzzes, aggressive squawks, and "signature whistles" that act as dolphin name tags.
As more of the dolphins' natural sounds are understood, they can be added to the system. The goal is for the dolphins to learn to mimic the whistles, potentially enabling real-time, simplified back-and-forth communication with dolphins. This could be a significant step towards scientists better understanding one of the ocean's most familiar mammalian faces.
Other examples of AI models changing the rate at which experts can decipher animal communication include the World's longest underwater study of dolphins, Project CETI, and a University of Michigan study that used an AI speech model to identify dog emotions, gender, and identity from a dataset of barks.
While the project is still in early research stages, it is clear that AI is playing an increasingly important role in interspecies communication. The exact timeline for functional, two-way communication remains uncertain, but ongoing research and advances in related AI models suggest promising progress in the near future.
- The Cetacean Hearing Augmentation Telemetry (CHAT), a component of the DolphinGemma project, is designed to mimic dolphin sounds related to objects they like, such as seagrass and researchers' scarves.
- With the release of DolphinGemma as an open model this summer, researchers studying various species of dolphins can leverage its power to decipher dolphin communication more effectively.
- The Wild Dolphin Project and Georgia Tech researchers are collaborating with DeepMind on the DolphinGemma project, using decades of collected data on wild Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Bahamas to enhance the project's accuracy.
- As AI models like DolphinGemma continue to evolve and improve, they could potentially enable real-time, simplified back-and-forth communication with dolphins, providing scientists with a deeper understanding of these fascinating ocean mammals.
