Can AI help us speak to animals? Karen Bakker interview
Sep 19, 2023
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Karen Bakker, a Canadian scientist and author in the bioacoustic research community, discusses advancements in digital bioacoustics, the importance of listening skills, the potential of AI to understand animal vocalizations, and the commercial applications of bioacoustics in biodiversity conservation.
Digital bioacoustics and machine learning are revolutionizing our understanding of animal communication, uncovering complex patterns and building dictionaries for different species.
Studying animal communication on their own terms challenges human-centric frameworks, revealing the complexity and richness of other species' communication systems.
Deep dives
Unlocking the Hidden Sounds of Nature
The advent of digital bioacoustics, using the same technology as smartphones, allows us to uncover complex communication in the non-human world. This includes high-frequency sounds that moths, mice, beetles, and other creatures use, as well as deep infrasound used by whales, elephants, tigers, and even peacocks. The application of machine learning to analyze the immense amounts of data collected through digital recording devices has allowed scientists to identify patterns, build dictionaries for different species, and gain insights into their communication and social lives. This revolutionary bioacoustics research is desentring humans from their supposed linguistic uniqueness and expanding our understanding of the acoustic landscape of the natural world.
The Question of Language and Communication
While the definition of language can vary depending on different disciplines, scientists studying bioacoustics are interested in understanding other species' communication on their own terms. Rather than attempting to classify animal communication within human-centric frameworks, researchers are immersing themselves in the communicative worlds of bats, elephants, and other species. As they delve deeper into these worlds, they are discovering that communication among animals is more complex than previously thought. This challenges the notion of human uniqueness and expands our appreciation for the complexity and richness of other species' communication systems.
Harnessing Data and Machine Learning for Analysis
Digital bioacoustics has brought about an abundance of data on animal sounds, collected through widespread use of recording devices. However, manually analyzing this data is impractical due to its sheer volume. Machine learning plays a crucial role in automating the analysis, helping researchers detect patterns and build dictionaries for different species. For example, machine learning algorithms can differentiate between the sounds produced by different whales, associate sounds with specific behaviors, decode individual vocal signatures, and even identify dialects within species. These tools provide unprecedented insights into the communication and behavior of various animals.
The Promise and Ethical Considerations of Interspecies Communication
While digital bioacoustics holds great potential for interspecies communication, there are important ethical considerations to address. Guardrails are necessary to prevent risks such as deep fakes, precision hunting, and miscommunication. Access to this technology should be restricted to academic researchers who are subject to ethical review. Furthermore, there is a need for independent validation of the underlying dictionaries to ensure accurate and meaningful communication. It is essential to prioritize environmental conservation, indigenous data sovereignty, and update regulations to ensure responsible use of bioacoustic data. Although the future may bring advancements in decoding animal communication, it is important not to overestimate our capacity for complex real-time conversations with other species mediated by technology.
The Canadian scientist and author Karen Bakker, who died unexpectedly in August this year, was a leading voice in the bioacoustic research community. Her 2022 book, The Sounds of Life, explained how it might one day be possible to create a kind of Google Translate for animals and was the inspiration behind this Tech Tonic series. This episode contains the full interview that we recorded with her. We are posting it as a tribute to her remarkable work.
