We will be able to speak to our pets in the future thanks to AI, a top vet has claimed
Dr Jess French said advancements in artificial intelligence will allow us not only to understand our animals but also to communicate with them directly.
The zoologist, a BBC TV presenter, also predicted that in the future when dogs fall ill they will be able to speak directly to the vet through technology.
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Dr French – who has degrees in zoology, veterinary science, and veterinary medicine – has authored more than two dozen books and presents Minibeast Adventure on CBeebies.
Whilst appearing on the Infinite Monkey Cage podcast at the Cheltenham Science Festival, she was asked if advances in AI could see vets communicate more with animals in the future.
She said: “Yes, I think at some point in the future we are going to be able to communicate with animals.
“Potentially dogs (are) going to come into the vets and instead of having a conversation with its caregiver I might just be speaking directly, maybe through some sort of technology, to the dog.
“But at the moment we’re still quite far away from that reality.
“I would say we are in the listening phase at the moment; we’re collecting loads and loads of data about how animals communicate, which is not always through sounds, so we’re analysing loads of data.”
But the author warned against trying to understand too much about what wild animals are saying to one another.
She explained: “There is perhaps a danger.
“Some people are saying ‘we’ve collected this information maybe we should start to play these recordings back to the animals and see how they respond’.
“I think, you know, that’s quite a dangerous thing to do.
“Whales will sometimes take a message and spread it across the ocean, across the globe, and we could be spreading all kinds of whale fake news.”
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