A German research team has developed an AI which is capable of 'speaking' with—and even controlling—wild animals.
Smart algorithms are being used to recognise patterns in animal communication in order to decipher the clicking of whales, the trumpeting of elephants, and even the dance of honey bees.
This technology is not only helping us better understand animals, but it could also be used to control and influence them—with terrifying implications.
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Scientists at the Dahlem Center for Machine Learning and Robotics in Germany created the 'RoboBee' in 2018. The RoboBee was trained to mimic the movements of bees' 'waggle dance', and tricked the bees into following its commands.
Some of the bees reportedly followed the directions of the RoboBee, even though it looked nothing like an actual bee.
It was able to tell them when to stop moving or even where to fly for a specific nectar source.
Author and scientist Karen Bakker told Vox: "The next stage in this research is to implant these robots into honeybee hives so the hives accept these robots as members of their community from birth.
"And then we would have an unprecedented degree of control over the hive; we'll have essentially domesticated that hive in a way we've never done so before." She added that this could raise a 'lot of alarm bells' if linked to 'military use of animals'.
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As this technology is developed further, we could one day gain the ability to translate what our pets say to us, or understand the signals and messages from creatures as if they were talking to us.
Linda Erb of the Dolphin Research Center in Florida has already crafted a keyboard-like machine that allows her to communicate with dolphins.
Linda said: “You might think a keyboard for an unhanded dolphin sounds a little odd, but they’re highly manipulative, and they manipulate objects with different parts of their bodies, including their beaks.
“The dolphins would hear a specific computer-generated whistle that was novel to them, and they would get a particular object or activity."
Let's just hope armies don't use this technology for violence in the future.
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