Renowned for their cognitive prowess,bottlenose dolphins are now the focus of groundbreaking research aimed at enabling future human-dolphin communication.Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution(WHOI)in Massachusetts and the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program in Florida are leveraging artificial intelligence to decipher the significance of dolphin vocalizations.Frants Havmann Jensen,a researcher at WHOI's Marine Research Facility,explained to The Current's Matt Galloway:"Our goal is to uncover their communication rules—specifically,the structure,function,and meaning behind their exchanges.This extends beyond merely cataloging sounds to revealing what these sounds represent for the dolphins themselves."

In recognition of this work,the team received the Coller Dolittle Challenge for Interspecies Two-Way Communication in May.This award celebrates scientific breakthroughs that could facilitate cross-species dialogue.Yossi Yovel,head of the Coller Dolittle prize judging panel,noted that the Jeremy Coller Foundation seeks to deepen insights into language evolution."By analyzing communication across diverse species,we gain clarity on the evolutionary origins of language itself,"he stated.

The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program,running the world's longest study of wild dolphins,has compiled a sound database from over 300 individuals since 1970.Yovel emphasized that identifying signals and their conveyed messages is pivotal for decoding the bottlenose dolphin communication system.Subsequent steps involve understanding how dolphins sequence these signals to form complex sequences analogous to human sentences."The next phase entails presenting discovered signals to dolphins across varied contexts and observing their responses,"he added.

AI plays a critical role in enhancing comprehension.According to Jensen,bottlenose dolphins produce unique signature whistles that function like personal identifiers."These whistles act as names,allowing dolphins to sustain social bonds and recognize one another,"he said.Non-signature whistles,which make up roughly half of their vocal output,remain less studied.Research from the winning team suggests these non-signature whistles may serve as context-specific"words"with shared meanings among dolphins.

Jensen explains that artificial intelligence enables researchers to interpret dolphin communication by autonomously identifying novel shared whistle patterns."We're exploring its capacity to detect usage patterns across individuals and contexts,allowing us to infer meaning from how dolphins employ these signals,"he stated.

Researchers highlight AI's proficiency in processing extensive datasets.Similarly,Sophie Cohen-Bodénès and her team at Washington University in St.Louis—finalists for the same award—are leveraging AI to analyze patterns in cuttlefish arm movements,a form of gestural language.Through non-invasive behavioral observations,Cohen-Bodénès established that these creatures interpret arm signals using visual cues and vibrational sensing.

"We're compiling large behavioral datasets from diverse scenarios,"she noted."AI algorithms will objectively identify correlations between distinct arm gestures."Her research aims to uncover the meaning behind animal communication displays and their sensory foundations,ultimately enhancing welfare assessment and species protection efforts.