This new technology could allows us to communicate with dolphins

A Swedish startup is hoping to use its new language-analysis software to unlock the secrets of how dolphins communicate, Bloomberg News reported.

Using technology from artificial intelligence language-analysis company Gavagai AB, researchers from Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology will begin compiling a dolphin-language dictionary. The software will monitor captive bottlenose dolphins at a wildlife park about 90 miles south of Stockholm, the company said in an emailed statement Wednesday.

“We hope to be able to understand dolphins with the help of artificial intelligence technology,” said Jussi Karlgren, an adjunct professor of language technology at KTH and co-founder of Gavagai. “We know that dolphins have a complex communication system, but we don’t know what they are talking about yet.”

The dolphin project — a planned four-year effort — came about because Gavagai’s software has proven capable in real-life, natural-language processing, CEO Lars Hamberg told Bloomberg.

Although there is no immediate business purpose, the research on dolphins will help the company sharpen its tool for other tasks, he said.

New recording methods and larger resources for computation, make Hamberg confident Gavagai will unlock the dolphin dictionary and ultimately communicate with the animals, he said.

The U.S. Navy has used marine mammals such as dolphins and sea lions for decades to carry out a range of tasks, from locating underwater mines to harbor defense, the story said.

Gavagai has spent about $10 million over the past few years developing its language artificial intelligence machine, Hamberg said. The company’s customers include WPP Group Plc’s market research company Kantar, SAS Institute Inc. and Nielsen Holdings, Plc.

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By: David Beasley Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: Bloomberg News