Talking to animals, the possible dream offered by AI

Chances are you've heard of Doctor Dolittle. He's a children's book character created by English author Hugh Lofting. Originally trained to treat humans, he turned to wildlife when he realized he could talk to them and make himself understood. Over time, he became a naturalist, exploring the world's animal species and ecosystems.

This literary series, sometimes adapted by Hollywood, works because it responds to a recurring human fantasy: to be able to understand and communicate with wildlife. Wouldn't the world be a simpler place if we could grasp all the subtleties of animal communication? What seemed like fiction could become reality within a few decades, thanks to artificial intelligence.

A project aided by technology

The idea of understanding animal language is not new. Biologists have been trying for decades to decipher wildlife's methods of communication. Think of the monkeys that were taught sign language to communicate. Since then, however, technology has improved and algorithms are changing our understanding of the animal world.

Indeed, their ability to process any data in record time has opened up a huge door for the biologists of this world. Thus, in 2017, a crazy project called"Earth Species Project" was created in Silicon Valley. Their idea is to decode the communication signs of virtually all animal species, and even be able to reproduce sounds to communicate with them. The program made all the more headlines in September 2023 when it enabled marine biologist Michelle Fournet to translate a sound made by humpback whales. Within 30 years, they hope to be able to literally interpret any animal. No more need for a narrator in animal documentaries, we'll have direct subtitles thanks to artificial intelligence.

That's the theory. In practice, we're a long way from the utopia dreamed up by the brains behind the Earth Species Project. All the more so as many scientists point out that there is still too little data to be able to really communicate with animals. A reproduced cry only makes sense in a particular context. After all, even human language has its subtleties. A simple expression like "Great, bravo!" can be a synonym for encouragement and pride in an environment, but add a sarcastic tone and it becomes a way of mocking someone. Until these subtleties are understood, it won't be worth much according to many scientists.

Progress everywhere

Not everyone is waiting for this project to come to fruition, however, to study animal communication with AIs. Many scientists around the world have embarked on this adventure with their own algorithms.

• In Canada, researchers in Halifax have begun analyzing hen cackling to understand the subtleties of their state of mind. Whether calm, stressed or disgruntled, the scientists record them and study the communications with a spectrum of cognitive understanding.
  
  
• In Europe, researchers have trained AIs to recognize the different moods of pigs or monkeys (large or small) living in zoos.
  
  
• At the University of Michigan, an AI was tested to identify dog barking. In almost 70% of cases, the algorithm was able to correctly detect the canine's mood, age, sex and breed. An encouraging experiment, which nonetheless showed its limitations, as the researchers noted that collecting sufficient voice data requires considerable time and other resources.
  
  
• The CETI program (a small parallel to SETI, developed to communicate with potential life in the cosmos) is working to decipher the language of sperm whales. They seek to understand the meaning of the vocalizations and also the context in which they occur. If successful, this would pave the way for deciphering the languages of many marine mammals, although each would require its own analysis.
  
  
• Scientists have discovered that elephants are capable of creating collective messages and others addressed directly to one of their own by their barking. In this way, they could potentially use codes that could be associated with types of first name between them.

All these projects put together are enough to excite biologists and the general public alike. All the more so as we know that these technologies will improve over the next decade, accelerating discoveries even further. However, there are still ethical questions to be answered. If we can understand and even respond to animals, how can we ensure that this is done in a way that respects them? Decoding the language of whales would make it possible to create precise sound messages telling them to stay away from beaches where they might run aground, but it would also open the door to unscrupulous whalers to lure them to a spot and shoot them.

That said, the findings of artificial intelligence could greatly alter the work of veterinarians in the decades to come. They would then be able to pick up on messages of pain, fear or whatever in domestic or wild animals. For the time being, however, associations such as the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association are urging caution in the use of artificial intelligence. As the technology is still in its infancy, and is already showing biases and errors at times, relying on it alone would be imprudent. However, who knows, perhaps future veterinary surgeons will learn during their training to use algorithms and these tools to better understand their furry or feathered patients and become, in a way, true Dolittle doctors?

Image: Petra from Pixabay

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