TL;DR
- Google has introduced DolphinGemma, an AI model that allows researchers to speak to dolphins using Pixel phones.
- The model is trained to analyze and generate dolphin vocalizations, all running through the Pixel 6.
Google’s Pixel phones already have you covered to understand different languages with Live Translate. But now, the company is taking things a big splash further. It turns out Pixel phones can not only help people talk to people but also help people talk to dolphins! Yes, you read that right. The same phone that helps you translate on the fly is now helping scientists decode dolphin-speak.
In a new announcement timed with National Dolphin Day, Google unveiled DolphinGemma. It’s an AI model Google created in collaboration with researchers at Georgia Tech and marine scientists at the Wild Dolphin Project (WDP). The model is trained to analyze and generate dolphin vocalizations, and the best part is that it can run through Pixel phones.
How does DolphinGemma work?
Google explains that Atlantic spotted dolphins have an entire underwater language made up of clicks, whistles, and what researchers call “burst pulses.” Think of it as the sonar version of sentences and emojis.
The WDP has been studying these dolphins for nearly 40 years and has collected an ocean of data on who says what, when, and to whom. That’s the data bank that DolphinGemma taps into.
The AI model takes in real dolphin sounds and identifies patterns in the vocal sequences. The tech behind it borrows from Google’s own Gemma models (little siblings of the Gemini models), tailored specifically for audio processing.
DolphinGemma works on Pixel phones used in the field, eliminating the need for bulky underwater computers and other equipment. Thanks to Google’s audio wizardry and the mighty SoundStream tokenizer (which, no joke, sounds like something from a sci-fi movie), researchers can not only listen to dolphin chatter in real time but also respond to the mammals.
WDP and Georgia Tech are even testing a system called CHAT (Cetacean Hearing Augmentation Telemetry) to speak to dolphins. CHAT uses synthetic whistles to represent specific objects dolphins love. The idea is that a dolphin will hear the synthetic whistle, realize it means “toy,” mimic it, and communicate with researchers.
Pixel 6 phones with DolphinGemma listen through the noise, recognize a dolphin’s mimic, and tell human researchers what the dolphin said. That information gets piped straight into bone-conducting headphones, and the researchers can respond in real-time. Google says the Pixel 9 series will further speed up this process by running AI models locally.
