DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication
Importance: 4 | # | ai, animals, communication, google-ai
... this AI model makes use of specific Google audio technologies: the SoundStream tokenizer efficiently represents dolphin sounds, which are then processed by a model architecture suited for complex sequences. This ~400M parameter model is optimally-sized to run directly on the Pixel phones WDP uses in the field.
The concept first relies on associating novel, synthetic whistles (created by CHAT, distinct from natural dolphin sounds) with specific objects the dolphins enjoy, like sargassum, seagrass or scarves the researchers use. By demonstrating the system between humans, researchers hope the naturally curious dolphins will learn to mimic the whistles to request these items. Eventually, as more of the dolphins’ natural sounds are understood, they can also be added to the system.