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DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

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Re: DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

#91

Post by singleshot_ »

9dev wrote: post #76
k7sune wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just reading how fishing industry’s longlines have caught many dolphins and other bycatches. It would be great to be able to give them warnings, or even better, to ask them to keep other big animals away from the longlines.

Or, like, we could stop ravaging the oceans by industrial fishing, stop pretending magical technology will save the day, and try to limit our resource consumption to sustainable levels? Humanity’s relationship with animals is so schizophrenic. On the one hand, let’s try to learn how to talk to cute dolphins and chat with them what it’s like to swim! , and on the other, well yeah that steak on my table may have once l…

I suppose this isn’t exactly what you were getting at, but now I can’t help but wonder exactly how delicious a dolphin is.

Re: DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

#92

Post by explodes »

stevage wrote: post #90
amarant wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well enlighten me then, What's wrong with helping marine biologists trying to make sense of dolphin language?

How would you respond if asked you to explain why a tobacco company sponsoring a kid's sporting event might be anything less than wonderful?

The dolphins aren't causing cancer in children.

Re: DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

#93

Post by nirav72 »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #66
doublerabbit wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am all for the Disney utopian fantasy of us living with animals. However if universal communication was to be made. Don't you think that animals are going to be pretty pissed to discover what we have done with their kingdom? "Hi Mr Dolphin, how's the sea today?" "Wet and a plastic bottle cap got lodged in my blowhole last night..."

I'm not suggesting a Disney utopian fantasy. I'm just suggesting that in a very pragmatic way, we can ask them questions and get meaningful answers, or ask them to do things for us. What's going on down the the sea over there? Would you mind pulling that thing from here to there? Or whatever - I don't know what we'll figure out to do, but certainly something. As far as them being mad at us, I doubt they will be, but…

Or do you mind going over there and planting this round thing to the side of the ship belonging to the other humans?

Re: DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

#94

Post by jbeninger »

explodes wrote: post #92
stevage wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you respond if asked you to explain why a tobacco company sponsoring a kid's sporting event might be anything less than wonderful?

The dolphins aren't causing cancer in children.

Neither is said sporting event

Re: DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

#96

Post by vlovich123 »

nfw2 wrote: post #81
vlovich123 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it meets the definition of virtue signaling to express a position you don’t do anything to advocate - which is the vast majority of opinions expressed on the Internet. It can be a sincerely held belief but if you’re not taking action around it I don’t see any difference from the corporate example you gave.

Your statement is virtue signaling according to its own definition unless you've taken action to prevent people complaining about Google.

Did I say anything about people complaining about Google? I think you misread or misinterpreted what I wrote.

Re: DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

#97

Post by linotype »

rcarmo wrote: post #43
rcarmo wrote: post #37

The only output I'll believe from this is "So long, and thanks for all the fish!"

I guess Douglas Adams isn't something a lot of people read these days.

I got the reference and appreciate it. What a fantastic set of books.

Re: DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

#98

Post by itchyjunk »

explodes wrote: post #92
stevage wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you respond if asked you to explain why a tobacco company sponsoring a kid's sporting event might be anything less than wonderful?

The dolphins aren't causing cancer in children.

That we know of!

Re: DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

#99

Post by glomgril »

lukev wrote: post #46

Tangential, but this brings up a really interesting question for me. LLMs are multi-lingual without really trying assuming the languages in question are sufficiently well-represented in their training corpus. I presume their ability to translate comes from the fact that there are lots of human-translated passages in their corpus; the same work in multiple languages, which lets them figure out the necessary mappings b…

Check out this recent benchmark MTOB (Machine Translation from One Book) -- relevant to your comment, though the book does have parallel passages so not exactly what you have in mind: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2309.16575

In the case of non-human communication, I know there has been some fairly well-motivated theorizing about the semantics of individual whale vocalizations. You could imagine a first pass at something like this if the meaning of (say) a couple dozen vocalizations could be characterized with a reasonable degree of confidence.

Super interesting domain that's ripe for some fresh perspectives imo. Feels like at this stage, all people can really do is throw stuff at the wall. The interesting part will begin when someone can get something to stick!

> that's basically a science-fiction babelfish or universal translator

Ten years ago I would have laughed at this notion, but today it doesn't feel that crazy.

I'd conjecture that over the next ten years, this general line of research will yield some non-obvious insights into the structure of non-human communication systems.

Increasingly feels like the sci-fi era has begun -- what a time to be alive.

Re: DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication

#100

Post by smitty1e »

lotyrin wrote: post #58
amarant wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's trendy to hate Google, and even more trendy to hate anything AI. The cynicism on display here is little more than virtue signalling and/or upvote farming. Sad to see such thoughtless behaviour has reached even this bastion of reason.

"virtue signalling" really is one of those words/turns of phrase that needs to be put on a high shelf. Plenty of people genuinely dislike the concentration of economic and computing power that big tech represents. Them expressing this is not "virtue signaling", it is an authentic moral position they hold. Plenty of people genuinely dislike the disregard for labor and intellectual property rights that anything Gen AI…

> Plenty of people genuinely dislike the concentration of economic and computing power that big tech represents.

The harder question that of risk management between the computing power we like on the one hand and its tendency to enable both megalomaniacs at the high end, and the unspeakable depravity of child pornography at the low.

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