Most people have wished for the ability to talk to other animals at some point, until they realized their cat would mostly insult them and ask for better service, but researchers are getting closer to a dolphin translator.
DolphinGemma is an upcoming LLM based on the recordings from the Wild Dolphin Project. Using the hours and hours of dolphin sounds recorded by researchers over the decades, the hope is that the LLM will allow us to communicate more effectively with the second most intelligent species on the planet.
The LLM is designed to run in the field on Google Pixel phones, due to it being based on Google’s in-house Gemini product, which is a bit less cumbersome than hauling a mainframe on a dive. The Wild Dolphin Project currently uses the Georgia Tech developed CHAT (Cetacean Hearing Augmentation Telemetry) device which has a Pixel 6 at its heart, but the newer system will be bumped up to a Pixel 9 to take advantage of all those shiny new AI processing advances. Hopefully, we’ll have a better chance of catching when they say, “So long and thanks for all the fish.”
If you’re curious about other mysterious languages being deciphered by LLMs, we have you covered.
Man…I wish they started with dogs first :)
Why start with the 50th most intelligent creature on the planet when you can go for the 2nd?
Which species has us trained to fulfill their every need?!
Cats.
“… the second most intelligent species on the planet.”
I have problems with this statement:
1) The “second most intelligent species” are my in-laws, at least according to them.
2) Who says that dolphins aren’t #1 on the list (by a long shot)?
Are we forgetting the octopus? We’re nowhere near comprehending its capabilities.
well the third most intelligent species on the planet couldn’t get a douglas adams reference. i think its time to demolish earth for a new hyperspace lane.
And when you ask the LLM what did the dolphin said, it’s answer will be: AHHIiiiiHHHIHHH TRTIIRIIRRTRHTIHTIHRITHHhiihhhtithtir aahhhrhhiihhihi !!!!
Forget Dolphins for now, shouldn’t LLMs be used to talk to a real Lama glama first?
Just in time to hear them say, “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”.
Dolphin: I think you’ll find the correct pronunciation is “Feesh”
Jake: Feesh
Dolphin: Feesh
Jake: Feesh
Dolphin: Feesh
Jake: I think I’m saying it right…
Dolphins 2nd most intelligent? Who’s first?
Maybe octopus?
Mice, right?
Yeah, it’s mice
I was starting to wonder if anyone would get the reference. Thank you, folks!
Dolphins/whales are not the second most intelligent.
That was boldly asserted by a hippie who was trying to learn to speak to them while tripping balls.
He based his claim on brain/body mass ratio and his gut feel.
Good gig if you can get it.
Guess what?
We can now track what parts of brains are working when a creature is ‘thinking’ (IIRC fMRI).
Their extra brain mass is used for sonar processing.
They (whales in general) are about as smart as pigs/dogs.
But not as delicious as pigs or as coevolved with humans as dogs.
‘Second smartest’ is now hippie dogma.
Hippies are as attached to their dogma as any other religion.
Watch their dissonance drive them to attack me.
Second smartest is likely Gorilla, Chimp or Bonobo.
Define smart?
Second best tool maker?
Second best language?
Second best warriors?
Second best at getting freak on?
‘Second smartest’ is now hippie dogma.
If Hippie dogma is second smartest, what’s first smartest?
The ones who can correct “‘Second smartest’ is now hippie dogma.”?
I lean towards orangutans and the way they will pick up hand tools and try to operate them and various other behavior. But as David Berlinsky says despite the “small” difference in DNA, “The difference between a human and a chimp is as great as the difference between a chimp and a bacterium.”
Well, not sure you want to automatically discount all smart people “tripping balls” as being unable to produce results or breakthroughs.
Rather than smartness, for the purpose of communicating the richness and method of the animal language is more important. About dolphins we already know that they can communicate purely acoustically, compared to e.g. primates that use visual signs. Makes the task so much easier when you only have one data stream to handle.
gorillas can already speak asl, perhaps at a kindergarten level. they also like kittens.
First is the one trying to understand all the others.
Surely you mean that we humans will finally be able to communicate with the smartest animals on the planet :) From the HHGTTG:
“Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because we build cars and buildings and start wars etc., and all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish and play around. Dolphins believe that they are smarter for exactly the same reasons.” – Douglas Adams.
But HHGTTG clearly says that dolphins ARE the second most intelligent. I never said humans were the most intelligent. That’s absurd.
Surely they didn’t do it on porpoise.
Then didn’t do it on tortoise. (corrected for you).
So I can go back and watch all those reruns of Flipper and have close-caption translation?
It’ll be NSFW, beware.
I’m still waiting to find out what the fox said.
Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho?
What’s the latest with DeepSqueak?
Scientists gave up on the highest intelligent and ruling species of our planet after being ignored, judged and looked down on…..cats.
While Hitchhiker’s Guide states mice are the most intelligent, a predator that can successfully hunt said most intelligent creature is likely on equal footing. As someone who serves as staff to our feline overlords, I think this is a pretty solid interpretation.
Lots of opinions on the “second smartest animal” line. The correct answer is Octopuses …Octopod….Octopuses…. The correct answer is The Octopus.
Anything a dolphin can do, an octopus can do better.
I’m surprised by how many humans and AIs trained on human responses are assuming humans are the smartest.
i find the lack of a seaquest reference disturbing.