Older brotherAnimals at the Museum of Zoology, Cambridge University can chat with visitors over the phone thanks to artificial intelligence applications
More than 12 specimens, from the American cockroach and dodo to the red panda and fin whale skeleton, will be given “conversation abilities” thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Animals at the Museum of Zoology will share their stories, even their after-death experiences.
Equipped with their own voices and personalities, the specimens can converse by voice or text through visitors’ phones. This technology allows them to describe their time on Earth and the challenges encountered, in the hope of reversing human indifference to the biodiversity crisis.
Jack Ashby, the museum’s assistant director, said many museums use AI in different ways, but “this is the first application that allows specimens to speak for themselves.” “Part of the experiment was to see whether giving animals their own voice would make people think differently about them. Is it possible to change the public perception of a cockroach by giving it a voice?” , said Jack Ashby.
The project was developed by Nature Perspectives, a company building AI models to strengthen the connection between humans and the natural world. For each specimen, the AI is provided with detailed information about its habitat, natural habitat, how it came into the collection, along with all the information about the species it represents.
Fin whale skeleton hanging from the roof of the museum. Image: Cambridge University
The specimens change their tone and language to match the age of their interlocutor and can converse in more than 20 languages, including Spanish and Japanese. The platypus has an Australian accent, the red panda has a Himalayan accent, and the mallard has a British accent. Through one-on-one conversations, Ashby hopes visitors will learn more than what’s on the specimen’s label.
Conversations between visitors and specimens will be analyzed to better understand the information people want to know. The AI suggests some questions, such as asking the fin whale “tell me about life in the ocean,” but visitors can ask whatever they want.
“When you talk to these animals, they really appear as individuals with their own personalities, which is a very strange experience,” Ashby said.