Dolphin language decoded? AI-powered DolphinGemma tackles interspecies communication

NEW YORK, April 19 — Google has just unveiled a brand-new form of artificial intelligence designed to decipher the language of dolphins. The ultimate aim is to be able to communicate with these creatures after analysing and reproducing the sounds they make based on their behaviour.

Named DolphinGemma, this AI model was designed to decipher the complex sounds emitted by cetaceans. It was developed in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Wild Dolphin Project (WDP), drawing on 40 years of data collected by researchers. Since 1985, researchers have been studying a community of wild Atlantic spotted dolphins in Bahamian waters, meticulously recording their behaviour and vocalisations.

DolphinGemma is now capable of analysing and generating sound sequences similar to those of dolphins, with the hope of one day being able to communicate with these intelligent marine mammals. Operating on the same principle as human language models, this AI predicts and generates the “likely subsequent sounds in a sequence” in a dolphin conversation, based on the natural vocalisations observed and analysed to date. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to establish the foundations of a shared lexicon between humans and dolphins.

Google says this AI is now in use on site. Using their smartphones (Google Pixel 9s), researchers are trying to respond to dolphin sounds in real time and make themselves understood. An even larger scientific community could be using DolphinGemma by next summer. So far, it’s been trained on one specific species, but the model could be adapted to other types of dolphins. — ETX Studio