What if their sounds became stories? Take the plunge and discover a hidden world
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Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) is a nonprofit organization and flagship National Geographic Society program, dedicated to understanding and translating the communications of sperm whales through advanced machine learning, state-of-the-art robotics, and underwater acoustics.
CETI’s field research is primarily based in Dominica, where it operates a field station, but it also partners with researchers and institutions worldwide and analyzes data from multiple geographies.
All of CETI’s custom-developed technologies are nature-inspired and noninvasive.
We’re listening to and translating how other species communicate - starting with the sperm whale. Our mission is simple:
Achieve breakthroughs in decoding sperm whale communication
Share our learnings with the world
Transform human understanding & connectivity
Leverage our findings to protect our oceans and planet
The codas of clicks vary by different groups showing possible culture
With a brain six times the size of humans, untapped potential could be vast
For the first time in history, advances in technology have made it possible to understand the communication of animals.Imagine what would happen if we could understand what other animals are saying? What would they say? What could we learn?
CETI is working to establish the first evaluation metrics for how humans can systematically assess and validate non-human communication language models, creating a foundational framework for measuring machine interpretation of animal communication.
Record the movements and sounds of sperm whales.
Our gentle, aerial drones are state-of-the-art.
The raw data is processed and prepared for the next step.
Our gentle, aerial drones are state-of-the-art.
Computers help people learn and understand whale communication.
Our gentle, aerial drones are state-of-the-art.
Scientists eventually validate our understanding via carefully designed playback studies.
Our gentle, aerial drones are state-of-the-art.
CETI is taking on this challenge with a 360 approach made possible by an extensive cross-disciplinary team, an initial focus on sperm whales and the design and implementation of cutting-edge technology.
We’ll keep you up-to-date on the latest breakthroughs and progress.
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