Grantee Spotlight: Earth Species Project

Dec 22 2023

If we could communicate with animals, what would they tell us? What could we learn from nature about conservation?

In an effort to harness the power of AI to better understand animal communication we have awarded the Earth Species Project a $1.2 million grant to invest in fundamental research that is critical to make progress in this futuristic concept of "communicating with animals."

We are investing in this kind of fundamental research in part because we recognize that the AI and computation revolution has untapped potential for conservation. Earth Species Project will help the conservation community with new curated data sets, benchmarks, and AI tools that can lead to a better understanding of animal behavior and communication.

Bird vocalizations are a key part of bioacoustic research, and can play an important role in unlocking animal communication.

The implications of this work can accelerate animal communication, behavioral ecology, and machine learning research. Imagine a world where we could understand the communications of whales or dolphins to the point where it could help us avert stranding events, or we could us a deep understanding of elephant culture to improve conservation corridors.

The potential implications are only just beginning to be understood, but they offer huge promise for rebalancing our relationship with the rest of nature. Read the full blog about this grant here.