AI is helping to decode animals’ speech. Will it also let us talk with them?

3 min read Original article ↗
  • NEWS FEATURE

The complexity of vocal communication in some primates, whales and birds might approach that of human language.

By

  1. Rachel Fieldhouse

    1. Rachel Fieldhouse is a reporter for Nature in Sydney, Australia.

A cartoon of two whales communicating with each other underwater, with a scientist in a deep-sea diving suit listening in with a piece of equipment.

Illustration: David Parkins

Deep in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mélissa Berthet found bonobos doing something thought to be uniquely human.

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Nature 645, 574-576 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02917-9

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