Using AI to ‘talk to animals’ might make us feel clever – but what, if anything, does it do for them?

As animal behaviorists increasingly use AI in their research, they grapple with how to wield the technology responsibly I’m sitting in a small boat in Shark Bay, Australia, eavesdropping on a conversation between some of Earth’s most intelligent beings.

The motor is off, the turquoise sea is glassy, and Stephanie King and I are motionless, transfixed by the whistles, clicks and squeezy, whirring noises made by the dolphins swimming below us.

If anyone could tell me what these big-brained social mammals are saying, it would be her.

Based at the University of Bristol, she co-leads Shark Bay Dolphin Research , one of the longest-running wild dolphin research projects in the world.

She has spent thousands of hours watching and listening to this population.

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