{"id":24513,"date":"2026-10-21T13:37:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T13:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=24513"},"modified":"2026-10-21T13:37:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T13:37:28","slug":"interspecies-communication-mit-technology-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=24513","title":{"rendered":"Interspecies communication | MIT Technology Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are other hurdles. Many animals communicate not just through sound but through visual cues, touch, pheromones, or a combination of signals, some of which might be difficult for us to perceive. And without a multispecies Rosetta stone, it\u2019s hard to know if translations are accurate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The progress<\/h3>\n
Over the past 50 years, a growing arsenal of devices has made it easier to observe the sophisticated ways animals communicate. Hydrophones at the bottom of the ocean can capture humpback whale song, and tiny wearable \u201cbiologgers\u201d can record a bat\u2019s every squeak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the last decade, advances in AI have leveled up our ability to make sense of it all. The technology can detect different calls, distinguish which sounds belong to which animal, and spot patterns. Researchers at the Earth Species Project (ESP), a nonprofit founded in 2018 to decode animal communication, recently used machine learning to detect vocalizations of carrion crows and determine which bird made which call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They suspect that more advanced AI could translate critters\u2019 chatter. Large language models like Claude and ChatGPT excel at finding relationships between words, explains Sara Keen, one of ESP\u2019s behavioral ecologists. ESP hopes its own NatureLM\u2014trained on human speech, music, and animal sounds\u2014will be able to interpret the vocalizations of a variety of species.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That promise, however, is still theoretical. Yossi Yovel, a neuroecologist at Tel Aviv University, worries that these models will put too much emphasis on acoustic similarities and make mistakes\u2014like lumping together similar sounds that have different meanings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for a two-way convo? It\u2019s not clear when\u2014or whether\u2014that will happen. Still, \u201ca lot of animals have an evolutionary structure that is similar enough that we should be able to understand what they\u2019re saying,\u201d Slobodchikoff says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Progress meter ………… 4<\/h3>\n<\/figure>\n
Researchers have amassed heaps of data on animal communication, but they\u2019re still trying to figure out how to decipher it all.\u00a0<\/strong>
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