'ChatGPT for pets': Scientists develop AI to understand animal languages
Scientists develop AI to understand animal languages (Getty Images)
Several scientific groups at various universities are currently engaged in the development of neural networks designed to help people understand animal languages. Using databases and artificial intelligence, these systems will analyze the behavior, facial expressions, and sounds made by animals to determine their semantic meaning, according to Daily Mail.
Research details
Scientists predict that significant progress will happen within the next three years, enabling the decoding of animal actions. It will bring closer the moment when pet owners will truly understand what their cats or dogs feel and think.
Among the organizations working on similar projects, the Earth Species Project stands out, a non-profit organization established in 2017. Project participants collect data not only on domestic animal communication but also study the communication of whales, crows, and other wild fauna representatives.
The main goal of this project is not only to understand what the animal is trying to express but also to develop two-way communication. In other words, creating a device capable of reproducing sounds understandable to animals.
Other researches
Scientists at the University of Lincoln are also working on a similar project, using artificial intelligence to classify and analyze the facial expressions of cats, as well as their behavior and dog barking.
Experts at Tel Aviv University have made significant progress in this field. They focus on studying bat language, recording their communication sounds, and analyzing them in combination with behavioral videos. Then the data are processed using artificial intelligence systems that identify related patterns.
They analyzed 15,000 bat communication fragments, revealing a deep level of their communication. It turns out that these mammals even "argue" about food, while adult females use a special language resembling "cooing" when communicating with their progeny.
Communication happens in the ultrasonic range, which is not perceived by humans but can be detected by special equipment. However, creating a full-fledged decoder-translator of bat language is still far away, according to the study's authors.
The CETI project team is currently working on deciphering whale language. Scientists place microphones in the habitats of these marine animals, observing their behavior. Some sound sequences are already predicted with 95 percent accuracy, but more data is needed for a complete understanding of what exactly these marine giants are communicating about.
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