How artificial intelligence is helping scientists talk to animals - BBC News

Scientists are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to decode animal languages.

Scientists in Israel are closer than ever to making two-way communication with another species more likely - by using AI to understand the language of bats.

“I’ve always dreamt of a Dolittle machine that will allow me to talk with animals”, said Professor Yossi Yovel of Tel Aviv University.

The team at Tel Aviv University created a large database of bat noises and videos, teaching AI how to differentiate between the different sounds. The Algorithm then matched the sounds with specific social interactions captured on film.

Adi Rachum from Tel Aviv University said, “in the end the computer will be able to speak the language, to understand what they say to each other”.

#AI #BBCNews

[AFROJOE]

We need a full length documentary on this not a 4 min video

[leafblade]

This is one of the things I hoped AI would help with. I feel we really need to better understand the other organisms that share this planet, and a tall ask, adapt to make choices that benefit them as well as us.

[Anton_Sh.]

Bats having individual names in the group is an amazing knowledge.

[YoavKantor]

Correct me if I'm wrong:
If you create labeled data for training the machine, it will only be able to detect what was labeled.
Therefore, it is limited by what we already know and can't really tell us NEW information about their interactions.

[stevenschilizzi]

This is really fascinating! I wish this team and its collaborators full success with their research goal. Are there other teams doing similar work with whales, elephants, birds etc.? Imagine! Future zoo or natural park visitors may one day be able to wear headphones with audiosensors and walk along and understand what chosen species are saying to each other. This may have a major impact on how much humans respect not only animal species, at least mammals, but also their habitats that allow them to survive. In this sense, such research has become urgent.

[richardjohnson]

If humans could understand what animal's are saying about humans they would say they are the most cruelest animal on Earth

[ayona]

The *GPT66X* is Amazon's crowning achievement in innovation, and it's set to change the world. Don't let this monumental opportunity pass you by – get involved and be a part of the future.

[featherfiend]

I was waiting for this moment for years ever since I learned of Deep Learning (the type of AI that has been giving all the hype for the last several years). Glad to see others have recognized the immense opportunity as well.

[justgopro]

Keep up the good work. Not only is it interesting to try to understand what animals are saying what is the context of what they're communicating? But your research, I'm sure somewhere along the line will help to secure the safety of the species and other species!

[MonsterMacLLC]

I am hoping that equipment that enables persons with disabilities communicate with, may be adapted for talking to service, companion, and wild animals alike! Great work! I wish I had my best friend Madeline the cat with me to show you what my state screwed up for us three years ago!

[dianefolan]

Super, fantastic. What an opening for researchers, feels like things will move much faster in this field. Good luck

[marcult]

If they’re using sounds to communicate that means they have a language, if they have a language that means they can share ideas instead of just living according to their instincts and following nature, but it’s definitely not a language we’re built to interpret

[SirJimmySavileOBEKCSG]

Where's that News At 10 Presenter I can't say the name of!?!?

[SN-szkw]

This is the first use of AI that doesn’t scare me. Fascinating.

[CrisTina-dxrh]

Super interesting! I love seeing people who are passionate about understanding our world better in order to improve all our lives.

[kx]

I want to know what birds are saying because I love watching them 😂

[sam]

Don’t have “in video pop up links” displayed whilst the video is still running. Wait until the very end of the video.

[JustinHalford]

The catch appears to be that we need a deep understanding of the communication patterns in order to annotate training data. It doesn’t appear to listen to novel sounds and readily decipher them - though it is physically possible with perhaps a foundational model approach as there are human experts who have done this already, proving it a tenable informational problem.

[SnoopyDoofie]

Just ask Batman to translate. He already knows their language.

[jamesmeaden]

Really don’t like bats, got a phobia. But this was interesting to listen too . Another example we’ve found that animals are far smarter then we give credit