As animal behaviorists use AI in their research, they grapple with how to wield the technology responsibly.
If anyone could tell me what these big-brained social mammals are saying, it would be her. Based at the University of Bristol, she co-leads Shark Bay Dolphin Research, one of the longest-running wild dolphin research projects in the world.
Like most other animal behaviorists, King is integrating artificial intelligence into her research process.
Dolphins communicate, navigate and find food using buzzes, pops, whistles and other acoustic signals.
The problem, King says, is not AI itself, but the narrative being built around it.
“It’s a sexy topic,” King acknowledges, but in her view, fundamentally misguided.
In other words, instead of “seeing” with sound, dolphins might be hear-feeling, or feel-hearing, their way through their watery world.
Mothers use them to keep in contact with their calves and some whistles are even used as individual identifiers, or name-like calls.
One of the world’s leading experts on African savanna elephants, Poole has spent decades observing the animals in the wild, building up a treasure trove of annotated field recordings of their vocalizations, movements and interactions.
“I do see AI as a potentially promising avenue for knowing more, and understanding better, non-human animal lives,” says César Rodríguez-Garavito, founding director of the More Than Human Life (Moth) program at NYU, a leading hub for research and discourse on the rights of nature.
Mickey Pardo also sees potential benefits and risks of AI-helped animal communication tools, but he also wonders if the speculation is a bit overblown on both sides.