Researchers Are Using AI to Translate Language From Animal to Human
We already know dolphins are one of the smartest animals. And now we know that they also have their own language. But what could they possibly be saying? Well Swedish researchers think they have a plan to essentially translate dolphin language to human.
Research from last year revealed that dolphins actually talk to each other just like humans do. It seems like most “sentences” are about five words or so. They even know dolphins listen to each other because they wait for other dolphins to finish speaking before responding. But what do their “words” mean? And what are they saying to each other? Probably nothing nice about humans. Well Swedish company Gavagai plans to figure it out! How? Well by developing an algorithm of course.
The project is expected to take roughly four years. During that time, language-analysis technology will monitor dolphins’ speech patterns. When the process is complete, researchers hope to have successful self-learning artificial intelligence software. And voilà: software to translate dolphin language.
Oh and it’s probably going to work. So keep an eye out for the results 4 years down the road. Why am I so confident about this? Gavagai already used the same language-analysis technology to master 40 human languages. Dolphin almost seems like it could be easier to learn than some human languages.
So talking to dolphins is cool and everything. But I’m sure Gavagai wouldn’t be pursuing the project if there wasn’t some kind of practical (or monetary) advantage to it. And there’s actually a few. From a company standpoint, Gavagiai will have technology that no one else in the world has. That in-itself is pretty much infinitely valuable.
But the military might also be interested in this software. (Of course they would.) And specifically for dolphins because they have a dolphin training program (Of course they do.) That’s right. The United States Navy has a dolphin fleet. It’s actually called the United States Navy Marine Mammal Program and the dolphins are trained to perform various tasks. Like protecting ships and sniffing out mines underwater. Yep. They train dolphins to swim up to possibly-live mines.
So keep an eye out for the results in four years and possibly more animal communication thanks to AI technology.