This is insane, and one of the coolest AI stories I've read in a while.
Thanks to GANs, we might be this close to decoding an alien language. Except, we need not look to the stars (this time), but rather, the ocean.
Project CETI fed thousands of sperm whale clicks into generative adversarial networks and the patterns the model surfaced are kind of mind melting.
Sperm whales have vowels. Real ones. Two distinct, intentional vowel sounds called a-codas and i-codas.
And here's the part I can't get over: they also use diphthongs. Wth is a diphthong?
These are the combinations of two vowels, like the 'oi' in 'coin.' Or 'ei' in 'their.' We've never confirmed that in any species other than humans.
The new paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society lays out five features in whale codas that mirror human phonology, including coarticulation, where adjacent sounds blend into each other the same way they do when we talk.
For decades we thought whale clicks were basically morse code. Turns out they *might* have been speaking the whole time. We just weren't slowing down enough to listen.
We have also discovered mathematical repetition in their songs as though they are singing the same lullaby to their children. Wut.
Can you just imagine if thanks to AI, we could actually communicate with other intelligent species right here on our own planet?
The ramifications are truly monumental. What if we learn they are truly conscious and aware in a similar manner to us? There's reasons to believe they are.
royalsocietypublishing.org/rβ¦