The Discovery of the Whale Phonetic Alphabet Using AI

About This Project

Summary

Project CETI is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary scientific and conservation initiative listening to and translating the communication of sperm whales. Recently the CETI team published the first “Sperm Whale Phonetic Alphabet,” revealing sophisticated structures in sperm whale communication akin to human phonetics. The New York Times described this as “a big breakthrough in our understanding of how it is that whales communicate.”

Goals & Objectives

CETI’s transdisciplinary approach crosses more fields than any other large-scale scientific project; its cross-sector collaboration is a model for addressing some of the world's most connected challenges, like climate change solutions, and the project opens new avenues for marine protections.

Results & Impact

The research received global coverage in outlets such as The New York Times, The Daily (NYT podcast), BBC, NPR, and more, reaching over 1.7 billion people. It achieved significant academic impact, with 37,000 accesses via Nature Communications, ranking it #1 of all scientific articles.