Researchers have identified new elements of whale vocalizations that they propose are analogous to human speech, including vowels and pitch.
Scientists Have Reported a Breakthrough In Understanding Whale Language::Researchers have identified new elements of whale vocalizations that they propose are analogous to human speech, including vowels and pitch.
Not only did the AI predict elements of whale vocalizations already thought to be meaningful, such as clicks, but it also singled out acoustic properties.
This is an amazing use of machine learning models.
They probably have nothing interesting to say anyway. After a year or two all the scientists will be like "I fucking know you like krill, whale. Shut the fuck up about the krill already".
If complete mutually intelligible communication of complex ideas with another species is undeniably proven, that will be a massive boon for veganism(although of course not all animals are equal), and a legal quagmire. What do you do if they are suffering in ways that we can fix due to their environment? Like humans were, and then we changed our environment. Do you give whales weapons so they can defend themselves from orcas? Do you shoot whale pochers? Do you shoot orcas attacking whales? Do you farm krill for them to eat? Do you drastically alter the ocean surface to be more comfortable for whales?
After all, most people recognize it as good to alter a person's natural state(hunting and gathering from caves) for the better, so would that not be the same for animals that are considered essentially people or near-people?