How Google plans to use AI and Pixel phones to communicate with dolphins

Why it matters: In what could be the best use of AI to date, Google is using a new AI model and Pixel phones to try to understand dolphins and eventually communicate with the mammals. The aptly named DolphinGemma large language model could interpret whistles, clicks, squawks, and other noises made by everyone's favorite sea creature.

Google has announced a collaboration with researchers at Georgia Tech and the field research of the Wild Dolphin Project (WDP), the latter of which has been collecting data on the noises dolphins make and their relationship to dolphin behavior for over 40 years.

Researchers previously correlated sound types with behavioral contexts. Dolphins have signature whistles that are used like names, allowing mothers to find their calves. They often use click "buzzes" during courtship or chasing sharks, while burst-pulse "squarks" are often seen during fights.

DolphinGemma, based on Google's Gemma AI models, has ...