The AI That Listens to Dolphins — And May One Day Talk Back

Give every team member a self-evolving AI agent that executes work, builds tools, automates outreach, and learns new skills by writing its own code - tailored to their exact role.

moxby agents don’t assist - they do. From building dashboards to writing content and running full workflows, each agent adapts to its user, evolves, and delivers results. This is real AI execution.

What if we’re on the brink of having a real conversation with another species? Thanks to a groundbreaking collaboration between Google, Georgia Tech, and one of the world’s longest-running dolphin research projects, that future might be closer than we ever imagined.

Meet DolphinGemma — the AI that doesn’t just listen to dolphins, but is learning to understand them. And eventually? It might even talk back.

🎧 Dolphins Have Always Been Talking. We Just Haven’t Been Listening Right.

Dolphins are some of the most intelligent creatures on Earth. They form complex social bonds, recognize themselves in mirrors, and communicate with each other using an astonishing array of clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls.

But despite decades of research, decoding their “language” has remained one of science’s greatest mysteries. The challenge? Dolphin communication is far more nuanced than we ever thought — and human analysis can only take us so far.

That’s where AI comes in.

🤖 Enter DolphinGemma: AI Built to Decode Dolphin Sounds

DolphinGemma is a large language model for sound — trained not on human words, but on the intricate, real-life vocalizations of wild dolphins.

Developed by Google and trained on data from the Wild Dolphin Project (WDP), this AI doesn’t just record dolphin chatter. It learns from it. It analyzes sequences. It identifies patterns. It predicts what a dolphin might say next.

In short? It’s trying to learn the rules of an entirely different species’ language.

And it's all happening underwater.

🌊 Four Decades of Dolphin Data, Now in the Hands of AI

Since 1985, the Wild Dolphin Project has been studying a community of Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Bahamas. Their approach is revolutionary: studying dolphins in their natural habitat, on their terms.

Over the years, they’ve gathered an enormous dataset — audio and video, linked to individual dolphin identities, life stories, and behaviors. From playful whistles between mother and calf to the aggressive squawks of dolphin disputes, the data is rich, real, and full of potential.

Now, with AI analyzing those sounds, scientists can move faster than ever before in identifying the structure and possible meaning behind each vocalization.

📱 And It All Fits Inside a Smartphone

Here’s where it gets even wilder: DolphinGemma is compact enough to run on a Google Pixel 9.

No lab equipment. No massive servers. Just a phone in a waterproof case, processing dolphin sounds in real time.

This phone-based setup is part of a larger system called CHAT (Cetacean Hearing Augmentation Telemetry) — designed to enable two-way interaction between humans and dolphins.

Imagine a dolphin mimicking a synthetic whistle it hears from the device — a sound researchers have associated with a toy or a piece of seagrass. The AI recognizes the mimic, interprets what the dolphin “said,” and informs the diver through bone-conducting headphones. The diver can then respond — offering the dolphin the object it “requested.”

It's not telepathy. It’s not fantasy. It’s real-time, real-world interspecies interaction, and it’s happening today.

🔁 From Listening to Talking Back

While DolphinGemma is already identifying patterns in wild dolphin communication, the future is even more ambitious. Scientists hope to build a shared vocabulary — a set of sounds that both humans and dolphins can use to communicate about objects, actions, or maybe even emotions.

This would be the first serious attempt at two-way language between humans and another intelligent species.

And it wouldn’t be possible without AI.

🌍 A Shared Future With Dolphins?

DolphinGemma isn’t just an academic breakthrough. It’s a glimpse into a future where humanity doesn’t just observe nature — we connect with it.

By combining decades of marine biology, cutting-edge AI, and the processing power of a smartphone, researchers are closer than ever to bridging the communication gap between species.

We’ve always known dolphins were trying to tell us something.

Now, thanks to DolphinGemma, we might finally be able to listen — and someday, answer.

Give every team member a self-evolving AI agent that executes work, builds tools, automates outreach, and learns new skills by writing its own code - tailored to their exact role.

moxby agents don’t assist - they do. From building dashboards to writing content and running full workflows, each agent adapts to its user, evolves, and delivers results. This is real AI execution.