Applying AI 🐦‍⬛

The chirps and whistles of dolphins, the rumblings of elephants and the trills and tweets of birdsong all have patterns and structure that convey information to other members of the animal’s species. 

For a person, the subtleties of these patterns can be difficult to identify and understand, but finding patterns is a task at which artificial intelligence (AI) excels. 

The hope of a growing number of biologists and computer scientists is that applying AI to animal sounds might reveal what these creatures are saying to each other.

Over the past year, AI-assisted studies have found that both African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) and common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) bestow names on their companions. 

Researchers are also using machine-learning tools to map the vocalizations of crows. 

As the capability of these computer models improves, they might be able to shed light on how animals communicate, and enable scientists to investigate animals’ self-awareness —and perhaps spur people to make greater efforts to protect threatened species.