New AI Tech Allows Humans to Talk to Animals

Not long ago, the scientific community laughed at the idea that animals might have their own languages. Today, researchers around the globe are using cutting-edge technology to listen in on animal "conversations" and even communicate with them. In her new book The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants, University of British Columbia professor Karen Bakker outlines some of the most ground-breaking experiments in animal and plant communication. "Digital technologies, so often associated with our alienation from nature, are offering us an opportunity to listen to nonhumans in powerful ways, reviving our connection to the natural world," writes Bakker, a director at the UBC Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability. She points out that digital listening posts are now being used to continuously record the sounds of ecosystems around the planet, from rainforests to the bottom of the ocean.