A California Company Aims to Harness the Power of Machine Learning to Communicate with Animal Species.
The goal of ESP is to create a common language to communicate with all species in the animal kingdom. (Photo: Phillip Lay/Observer Design)
Aza Raskin is the co-founder and president of The Earth Species Project (ESP), a nonprofit organization aimed at deciphering animal communication through a form of artificial intelligence (AI) known as machine learning, which helps enhance our connection with existing creatures and protect them, Guardian reported on July 31.
Elodie Briefer, an expert in animal behavior, co-developed an algorithm to analyze the grunts of pigs to determine whether they are experiencing positive or negative emotions. A company named DeepSqueak assesses whether mice are stressed based on their ultrasonic vocalizations. The CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) plans to use machine learning to find ways to communicate with sperm whales.
However, ESP’s approach is quite different as they do not focus on deciphering the communication of a single species, but rather that of all species. According to Raskin, while sign language likely exists among highly social animals like primates, whales, and dolphins, ESP aims to develop tools that can be applied across the entire animal kingdom, from worms to whales. The motivation for establishing ESP comes from research indicating that machine learning can translate different languages without prior knowledge.
The algorithm developed by ESP expresses words through physical space. Based on multidimensional geometry, the distance and direction between points (words) describe their semantic relationships. For example, the word “king” relates to the word “man” in a similar distance and direction as “queen” and “woman.”
ESP aims to create a similar means of expression for communicating with animals, applicable to both individual species and multiple species. “We do not know how animals experience the world, but they also have emotions like joy and sadness that seem similar to ours and can be conveyed in communication,” Raskin said.
