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Can we learn to talk to sperm whales? | David Gruber

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Animals are communicating — but what are they saying? And can we talk back? Marine biologist David Gruber introduces Project CETI: a team of scientists, linguists and AI specialists hoping to decode sperm whale language. Using noninvasive robots and…

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Animals are communicating — but what are they saying? And can we talk back? Marine biologist David Gruber introduces Project CETI: a team of scientists, linguists and AI specialists hoping to decode sperm whale language. Using noninvasive robots and a machine-learning algorithm to collect and analyze millions of sperm whale vocalizations known as coda, the team aims to demystify the communication structures and dialects of these majestic creatures — and possibly even crack the interspecies communication code. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED’s initiative to inspire and fund global change.)

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58 Comments

58 Comments

  1. Dawid Wolnik

    April 28, 2021 at 5:53 pm

    it sounds like fart!

  2. Dawid Wolnik

    April 28, 2021 at 5:53 pm

    but can it play crisis?

  3. Lawrence

    April 28, 2021 at 5:57 pm

    What would you tell them? The ocean is a dump full of plastic/toxic waste!! Boy the things money can buy lol.

  4. Ramandeep Nijjar

    April 28, 2021 at 5:58 pm

    So fascinating! Thank you! As a current student hoping to study marine biology in university in the future

  5. Aida Nurus Suroyya

    April 28, 2021 at 6:13 pm

    Amazingg thankyou🤍

  6. Matty P

    April 28, 2021 at 6:30 pm

    I suspect they’ll be taking about current events

  7. Lewis Johnson

    April 28, 2021 at 6:35 pm

    You showed that wasn’t gas

  8. Karen Pierce

    April 28, 2021 at 6:40 pm

  9. Gary Graham

    April 28, 2021 at 7:32 pm

    We can tell them to “get out of Dodge” when the whale boats show up! HURRY! FLEE! They have earned at least that much!

  10. Z Shieh

    April 28, 2021 at 8:18 pm

    Practice for communication with other species before First Contact with extraterrestrial aliens.

  11. We are all One

    April 28, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    My butt has spoken a similar language, sometimes after burritos

  12. DeathAngel

    April 28, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    isn’t ceti the people looking for aliens?

  13. DeathAngel

    April 28, 2021 at 8:48 pm

    how cool woild it be if a century from now, sperm whale could be an option when you need a foreign language credit. i’d love to be able to speak with them, imagine what secrets of the ocean they could tell us.

  14. Mohamed Esam

    April 28, 2021 at 9:25 pm

    What is the useful for this it’s privacy of whales to communicate with each other without being spied by humans

  15. Hugo Austin

    April 28, 2021 at 9:27 pm

    it sounds like really slow grandma farts

  16. Haidar Ali

    April 28, 2021 at 9:37 pm

    we’re humans and people are intelligent yet arrogant, hopefully this study can bring our understanding to whale specifically and how not to disturb them, communication can be something some people use for itself.

  17. FM GOBi

    April 28, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    James Nestor did a TED talk in 2017 saying that the project would be done in 2 years. And now you say in 2021 that the project will be done in 5 years.

  18. Elliot Blair

    April 28, 2021 at 10:27 pm

    pffft John Lilly style (LSD) would probably work better than AI and robots in the ocean. Also wouldnt they be uncomfortable with robots in the ocean. Like they can echolocate the innards, blast them and break them.

  19. Wasilej Wasiliewicz

    April 28, 2021 at 10:30 pm

    That’s odd, i’ve already talked with your mother, ted.

  20. YOYO YOOO

    April 28, 2021 at 11:03 pm

    LETS GO finaly a usefull project. Not like these besos guys with billions who do nothing with there money besides making more. Besos could clear the ocean with his money. This is the beginning of a new era.

  21. Mike L

    April 28, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    Bro, give my wife and her friends 20 minutes and they’ll crack the code. There is absolutely nothing they don’t know!

    • -Yop-

      April 29, 2021 at 12:21 am

      I thought you were saying she was a whale lol

    • Daniel Miles

      April 29, 2021 at 12:22 am

      There are plenty of AI tutorials on youtube, finding access to the database of sperm whale sounds could be difficult but not impossible! get them to do it!!

  22. Geoffrey Kail

    April 28, 2021 at 11:33 pm

    GO FOR IT. THIS IS A TRUE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE VERSES MAKING WAR MACHINES OUT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES.

  23. Emiljano Dervishllari

    April 28, 2021 at 11:43 pm

    Imagin if they call us sperm humans

  24. Overonator

    April 29, 2021 at 12:15 am

    I’m not buying it that you can use machine learning will magically decode sperm whale language. This isn’t like trying to decode a human language. You know that humans share common experiences so describing those experiences in figuring out what those words mean is easy. We aren’t sperm whales, we don’t have the same experiences so to me this is quite unbelievable and bordering on pseudoscience.

  25. waddac2

    April 29, 2021 at 12:15 am

    Has any of your guys, jumped in the water and let off a few sneaky Farts to communicate with them as under water done correctly a fart sounds same as the Whales language. If you could tune your farts by squeezing bum cheeks we may all know and learn.

  26. Kam Overmon

    April 29, 2021 at 1:53 am

    So can we talk with dolphins… way more accessible

  27. Sailaja sadineni

    April 29, 2021 at 3:09 am

    Interesting

  28. v a s

    April 29, 2021 at 3:14 am

    An unlikely untapped resource could be those in our human societies called savants. They can detect patterns and nuances in patterns and obtain some plausible meanings.

  29. Emilin

    April 29, 2021 at 3:52 am

    They would be pissed to know what we call them

  30. Bob Swanson

    April 29, 2021 at 4:14 am

    There are a number of reasons why this is important, but one of the reasons is that someday, in the distant future we may find intelligent life, but may not recognize it as such because it doesn’t look like us. We will need some way to communicate with them, or at least attempt to communicate if we want to avoid conflict or exploitation.

  31. Gang Pan

    April 29, 2021 at 4:50 am

    So what did you find? Your talk is empty.

  32. Bianka

    April 29, 2021 at 4:56 am

    Im sending my apologies on behalf of all human activities that keep ruining their habitat. Im personally terrified of big bodies of water but please tell the whales we love them❤

  33. Extra_V_I_C_C

    April 29, 2021 at 5:31 am

    “The most sophisticated method of communication that has ever existed” – I somehow seriously doubt that.

  34. Antonio Usai

    April 29, 2021 at 6:31 am

    Fun fact: communicating at close range with a sperm whale can actually kill you. Their clicks have been measured to have a sound intensity of up to 230 decibels. Such clicks, at a short distance from the whale, can potentially cause internal damage or just stun you, if you’re lucky.

  35. eyemall ears

    April 29, 2021 at 7:46 am

    Before watching:
    Ok TED let’s see if you can still make videos that don’t feature a MASSIVE progressive bias.
    After watching:
    YES! Well f’ing done TED! You didn’t inject some far left talking points. Thank you.

  36. Knightly Soul

    April 29, 2021 at 1:39 pm

    Whale: So, Mankind, clean up your trash.

  37. Awww ww

    April 29, 2021 at 2:28 pm

    🤍

  38. NIKKISHANA SUGAN Moe

    April 29, 2021 at 4:25 pm

    WOOOOO! 🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊 GO HUMANS!!!

  39. Ambar

    April 29, 2021 at 4:26 pm

    Not kidding, learning to understand the language of sperm whales is one of the researches I’m excited for the most in today’s science. Great project!

  40. filmalarmxxl

    April 29, 2021 at 5:19 pm

    Yes! This research is needed, urgent! What a humble lesson, this speech!

  41. Michael Nelson

    April 29, 2021 at 5:20 pm

    A parrot or dog would make more sense for this project

  42. Zahlenteufel1

    April 29, 2021 at 5:28 pm

    if it’s possible, it is inevitable

  43. Dreckige Spritze

    April 29, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    sounds like the door-hinge is broken

  44. Dreckige Spritze

    April 29, 2021 at 10:07 pm

    Nice. That way we could manipulate whales into serving us for transport and warfare. also for boarder-protection

  45. keenan fetterly

    April 29, 2021 at 11:53 pm

    Any animal we talk to will eventually end up hating us unless we feed it only specific information about humans.

  46. 小故事

    April 30, 2021 at 7:02 am

    and then become aquaman

  47. Dianne Goodrick

    April 30, 2021 at 7:54 am

    Very cool! I just hope we humans use what we learn for the good

  48. Ali Hashemi

    April 30, 2021 at 11:48 am

    👏

  49. Alejandro Verse

    May 1, 2021 at 6:28 am

    we live in a post-impossible era

  50. Malcolm Pagett

    May 1, 2021 at 3:46 pm

    Mate, it’s pretty obvious that you’re reading from a card.

  51. Jakub Sláma

    May 1, 2021 at 5:46 pm

    “perhaps the most sophisticated form of communication that has ever existed”? yeah right so why don’t you say that in spermwhalese

  52. faith betinis

    May 3, 2021 at 3:32 am

    I want to know what they’re singing about!

  53. UBT pixielox

    May 3, 2021 at 12:35 pm

    Finally! Someone’s doing it!

  54. Sinedstro Cythan

    May 4, 2021 at 4:32 am

    Damn man damn damn damn

  55. Gert van den Berg

    May 4, 2021 at 1:42 pm

    How is this not “Project Babel fish”?!

  56. Bubble N Champagne Studios

    May 4, 2021 at 10:00 pm

    My girlfriend tries this everyday.

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