Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) is Succeeding!
“For the first time in history, humans didn’t just listen to whales – we talked back.
“Using advanced AI, marine biologists analyzed millions of sperm whale codas – rhythmic clicking patterns long suspected to be more than simple sounds. What the AI uncovered stunned scientists: grammar, syntax, structure, and even regional dialects.”
- “Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative): This is a leading research initiative using advanced machine learning, robotics, and underwater acoustics to understand sperm whale ‘codas’ (patterns of clicks).
- “Discoveries: The project has identified what some researchers call a ‘phonetic alphabet’ of 156 distinct codas, which are combined into phrases and varied by context and dialect, suggesting a level of complexity approaching human language.
- “Goal: The team hopes to achieve basic two-way communication, such as location sharing or warning signals, with sperm whales possibly within 2026.
- “Current Status [December, 2025]: The project is currently in a phase of data collection and analysis, training AI models to identify patterns and structures in whale communication, with plans to test hypotheses through non-intrusive playback experiments.
- “Humpback Whale ‘Conversation’: In October 2024, researchers with the Whale-CETI team conducted a groundbreaking, 20-minute interactive “conversation” with a humpback whale named Twain. The whale discernibly responded in a conversational style to a recorded humpback greeting signal played via an underwater speaker, marking a significant milestone in interspecies interaction.
- “AI Progress: AI programs like Google’s DolphinGemma and tools like the WhAM model are being used to analyze vast amounts of acoustic data, identifying patterns and structures in whale and dolphin communication that were previously undetectable by humans.
“While these developments show immense promise and researchers are optimistic about future breakthroughs, the ability to engage in complex, meaningful communication similar to a human conversation remains a future goal. The work is helping scientists rethink the nature of non-human intelligence and may have implications for animal rights and conservation.”
THIS NEXT PART was in Facebook and MAY BE EXAGGERATED: “Then came the moment that changed everything.
“Researchers played a synthesized whale greeting into the ocean.
“The response?
“A 40-minute exchange – filled with patterned clicks believed to convey information about ocean currents, food locations, and movement through space.
“This wasn’t noise.
“It was conversation.
“The discovery suggests whale communication rivals human language in complexity, expressing ideas of family, location, and time. For the first time, humanity glimpsed intelligence not shaped by cities or technology – but by oceans and generations beneath the waves.
“Next on the horizon: dolphins… elephants… and beyond.
“We’ve always searched the stars for other minds.
“Now we’re realizing something profound:
“We were never alone on Earth.”
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I write about interspecies communication extensively, particularly with Cetaceans (but composed years before this) in my three sci-fi books of The Spanners Series. Check them out! https://www.sallyember.com/Spanners
FMI:
https://www.phillyvoice.com/ai-whale-communications-legal-rights-sperm-whales-ceti/
Sally Ember, Ed.D. 
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