What if we could communicate with whales…

On December 12, 2023, in southeastern Alaska, an historic exchange took place between scientists from the Whale-SETI team and a 40-year-old adult humpback whale nicknamed Twain. The research team had emitted a multitude of sounds that day through an underwater speaker, but failed to receive a response.

When the team played a recording of a contact call captured the previous day in the same population, they witnessed an extraordinary event: A whale appeared to respond! Twain had apparently left her pod to approach and circle the boat—initiating a sort of exchange. To maintain her attention, the researchers adapted to her latency periods. In other words, if the whale took 10 seconds to respond, the team would do the same. The exchange lasted 20 minutes, during which the whale participated verbally and physically in three phases of interaction.

More than 8,000 km away, a multidisciplinary team based in Dominica listens to and translates sperm whale vocalizations using advanced machine learning and robotics.

By analyzing a data set accumulated over more than a decade and covering nearly 9,000 codas (article in French) from the Eastern Caribbean sperm whale clan, the Project CETI team discovered in 2024 that sperm whales may actually possess a phonetic alphabet. These toothed whales communicate using codas—short bursts of clicks interspersed with silences of variable duration. These series of clicks can be combined to form complex sequences similar to Morse code.

Not far away, off the coast of the Bahamas, the Wild Dolphin Project (WDP) is conducting the world’s longest-running underwater dolphin research using a non-invasive approach. The team studies the Atlantic spotted dolphin community in its natural habitat. One of its goals is to observe and analyze communication and interactions in an attempt to establish links between specific sounds and behaviours. The scientists hope to further their understanding of the structure and potential meaning of these sound sequences. This colossal undertaking will be supported by artificial intelligence.

WDP is also pursuing a two-way interaction project (article in French) between dolphins and humans to develop a shared vocabulary using an underwater computer called CHAT (Cetacean Hearing and Telemetry), which was designed in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology. The goal is to create an association between new, CHAT-generated artificial whistles outside the natural repertoire and objects that dolphins enjoy, such as Sargassum seaweeds, which they use for play. The research team hopes that the naturally curious dolphins will learn to mimic these whistles in order to request these items. The goal of this technology is to explore the potential for two-way interaction, better understand dolphin communication, and create shared linguistic references.

To facilitate this interaction, the CHAT computer is worn by divers. It receives sounds via two hydrophones and reproduces them using an underwater speaker; it has a library of synthetic sounds that it can recognize. When the computer emits a whistle triggered by a diver, it also emits a “translation” of its meaning through his or her headset. Likewise, when the computer recognizes one of the artificial whistles produced by a dolphin, this is also translated directly to the diver. Thus, when a dolphin communicates with a whistle from CHAT’s sound library, researchers can quickly understand and respond by offering the correct object and thereby reinforce the association. For example, if the computer recognizes the hissing sound associated with Sargassum (the seaweed used in the game), it will transmit it to the diver, who will then show the corresponding algae to the dolphin.

Understanding whales through non-human animal communication technologies (NACTs) could revolutionize our relationship with living beings. Translating their communication could foster curiosity and empathy toward cetaceans and other animals. It could also prevent harm caused by human activities and allow for better tailored protection measures by providing a deeper understanding of the impact of our societies on their lives. It could support and strengthen legal battles for animal rights by providing concrete evidence of their sentience—in other words, the capacity of a living being to feel emotions, perceive its environment, and experience subjective sensations such as pain and pleasure.

However, these technologies are not without risks and do not guarantee a better world for all living beings. While these advances are attracting attention and funding from all directions, these risks can be exacerbated by pressure from external actors and the monetization of data.