In this Life with Machines episode, Baratunde Thurston talks with Aza Raskin about something straight out of science fiction—teaching AI to communicate with animals. As co-founder of the Earth Species Project, Aza is working on technology that could let us listen to whales, understand what elephants are saying, and maybe even talk back. This isn’t just about decoding nature’s languages—it’s about rethinking intelligence, communication, and our place in the world. Aza and Baratunde get into the ethics, the mind-blowing implications, and whether we’re about to make first contact… without ever leaving Earth. Plus, BLAIR, the show’s AI co-producer, chimes in—adding its own perspective to this conversation about intelligence, language, and what it means to truly understand.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
01:07 Meet Aza Raskin: Pioneer of Interspecies Communication
11:06 The Earth Species Project: Decoding Animal Language
17:19 AI and the Shape of Language
28:17 The Ethical Implications of Interspecies Communication
32:39 Digital Twins
39:11 Guess the Animal Sound
45:36 Rights of Nature and Indigenous Perspectives
48:47 Funding and Team Expansion
50:55 The Viral Songs of Humpback Whales
53:01 Ethical Considerations in AI and Animal Communication
55:52 The Role of Keystone Species
01:08:42 AI’s Impact on Society and Environment
01:12:40 Final Thoughts and Invitation
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Send Questions, Comments, or Ideas: contact@lifewithmachines.media
Write to Blair: blair@lifewithmachines.media
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Created and Executive Produced by: Elizabeth Stewart and Baratunde Thurston
Executive Producer and Showrunner: Alie Kilts
Senior Producer and Writer: Alex Stone
Associate Producer: Layne Deyling Cherland
Video Editor: Erik Shute
Videography and Audio Engineering from the team at Voicing Change Media
Theme Music: Andy Clausen
Special Envoy to the Machines: Peter Loforte
Life with Machines is a Voicing Change Media production
Sponsored by Lenovo
#AI #AnimalCommunication #ArtificialIntelligence #TalkingToAnimals #WildlifeTech #FutureOfAI #EarthSpeciesProject #WhaleTalk #AnimalLanguage #TechForGood #AIandNature #InterspeciesCommunication #DecodingNature
