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Will AI “Crack the Code” of Interspecies Communication?

 
Have you ever wanted to know what your dog is saying when they bark at someone passing in front of your house?  If participants in The Coller-Doolittle Challenge for Interspecies Two-Way Communication are successful, it may be possible.

 
In 2024, Tel Aviv University and The Jeremy Coller Foundation announced a project aimed at achieving successful two-way communication between humans and non-humans through the use of AI. The multi-year challenge will award $100,000 annually to support top applicants with their research. The team that successfully “cracks the code” will win $10 million.  

 

Laela Sayigh was the inaugural recipient of the annual prize, announced on May 15, 2025. Sayigh and a team of researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are using AI to decipher dolphin whistles. Research topics from other finalists included arm gestures used by cuttlefish,  naming behavior in marmoset monkeys, and the ability of nightingales to match the pitch and timing of their calls to calls from other birds and artificial whistles.  

 

Learn More! 
Origin of the Challenge  |    Press Release   

Collier-Doolittle Prize Website   |   Interview with the Finalists
The Winner: Dolphin Whistles  

Cuttlefish   |   Marmoset Monkeys  |    Nightingales