Denise Herzing, founder and director of the Wild Dolphin Project, is using artificial intelligence to help make sense of audio and video footage of marine mammals, aiming to find patterns in how the animals communicate.
Marine research · Wild Dolphin Project
Using AI to find patterns in how dolphins communicate
Denise Herzing is applying machine learning to large collections of dolphin sound and video, pairing what the animals say with what they are doing.
How the workflow fits together
Audio alone does not show what an animal is doing when it vocalizes, so the two data types are linked.
STEP 1
Long-term field recordings
Audio and video captured over extended study periods.
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STEP 2
Pair sound with behavior
Link each vocalization to what the animal is visibly doing.
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STEP 3
AI sorts, labels, searches
Automated tools speed up review of material too large to check by hand.
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STEP 4
Researchers validate
Hypotheses about recurring sounds in specific situations are tested by scientists.
What the approach makes possible
Sorting material that far exceeds what researchers can review by hand
Searching recordings for recurring sounds
Testing whether particular sounds occur in particular situations
What remains open
How reliably AI can interpret animal communication
How much interpretation still depends on human expertise
Specific models, results, and peer-reviewed findings are not detailed here
Key takeaway
Researchers treat automated analysis as a way to speed up review, not a replacement for direct observation.
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