What’s really happening inside AI’s black box? Berkeley researchers have answers Scientists have traditionally treated the internal mathematical layers of artificial intelligence — often described as AI’s “black boxes” — as too abstract and complex for humans to fully interpret. B...

with @begus.bsky.social and @metahaven.bsky.social

“I hope that our research encourages academics to build their own models and to collaborate more with humanists and artists. Humanistic insights should be at the forefront of AI development,” Nina said.

ls.berkeley.edu/news/what%E2...

👀

cf.

Artificial Humanities Artificial Humanities explores how literature, history, and art can deepen our understanding of artificial intelligence and its development. By examining fictional representations of AI in parallel wi...

Excellent book about the Pygmalion myth and AI: press.umich.edu/Books/A/Arti...

@begus.bsky.social 🙌

🐳 Sperm Whale Vowels — @begusgasper

On the cover of the Guardian! Royal Society B paper: whale vowels don't just look like human vowels — they *behave* like them (short/long, like Latin). Applying linguistic tools to cetacean vocalizations.

https://x.com/begusgasper/status/2044634331038335049

...

Like in Slovenian, some vowels prefer particular tones. Like in human language, there’s a lot of coarticulation (a process when you say “tense” but the word sounds like “tents”).

Observing vowels in whales is a matter of timing. Our vowels are fast, whale vowels are slow.

Super excited to be on the cover and page 4 of the Guardian this morning.

Sperm whales make sounds like human vowels, scientists report A new report from scientists at Project CETI demonstrates that the noises that sperm whales make to communicate with each other contain what humans would describe as vowels.

Ailsa Chang and Mary Louise Kelly talked about whales and whale grandmas today. I joined their conversation at All Things Considered (NPR)

www.npr.org/2026/04/16/n...

Sperm whales may make their own vowel sounds, similar to human language Sperm whales, which make clicking sounds to communicate, use different “vowels” in ways similar to human speech

Sperm whales may make their own vowel sounds, similar to human language

Sperm whales make sounds like human vowels, scientists report A new report from scientists at Project CETI demonstrates that the noises that sperm whales make to communicate with each other contain what humans would describe as vowels.

Ailsa Chang and Mary Louise Kelly talked about whales and whale grandmas today. I joined their conversation at All Things Considered (NPR)

www.npr.org/2026/04/16/n...

We’re one step closer to understanding the sperm whale ‘alphabet’ Scientists are learning that sperm whales communicate in ways that may mirror human language.

We’re one step closer to understanding the sperm whale ‘alphabet’.

Read in National Geographic by Richard Kemeny: bit.ly/48D0uoR

Research by CETI Scientists: @begus.bsky.social, Maksymilian Dąbkowski, Ronald Sprouse, David Gruber, Shane Gero

Do you speak whale? 🐳 💙

New paper out in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: we apply linguistic tools to sperm whale vowels.

The result: sperm whale vowels do not just look like human vowels. They also behave like them.

We found several parallels. Like in Latin, whales have short and long vowels.

Super excited to be on the cover and page 4 of the Guardian this morning.

So cool.

Sperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study finds Analysis shows whales’ coda vocalizations are ‘highly complex’ and remarkably similar to our own

Thank you @theguardian.com and @olliemilman.bsky.social for this piece featuring our latest paper, “The phonology of sperm whale coda vowels.”

By: @begus.bsky.social, Maksymilian Dąbkowski, Ronald Sprouse, David Gruber, Shane Gero

bit.ly/4dKeGjn

As a linguist i was blown.away by the book How to speak whale. bsky.app/profile/begu...

😍

Listen to the vowels here:

bsky.app/profile/proj...

CETI scientists led by CETI Linguistics Lead Gašper Beguš have revealed that not only do sperm whale vocalizations sound like human vowels, they also behave like them! Read: bit.ly/4dPrIfr

By: @begus.bsky.social, Maksymilian Dąbkowski, Ronald Sprouse, David Gruber, Shane Gero

A bit of nice news ❤️

That’s a super interesting question. We’re looking into it. Not sure about the games.

Sperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study finds Analysis shows whales’ coda vocalizations are ‘highly complex’ and remarkably similar to our own We may appear to have little in common with sperm whales – enormous, ocean-dwelling animals that last shared a common ancestor with humans more than 90 million years ago. But the whales’ vocalized communications are remarkably similar to our own, researchers have discovered. Not only do sperm whale have a form of “alphabet” and form vowels within their vocalizations but the structure of these vowels behave in the same way as human speech, the new study has found. Continue reading...

Sperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study finds

Both. The i vowel has length contrast. The short and the long i. On average, a is longer than i.

" Like in Latin, whales have short and long vowels"

I simply love this sentence - and the research behind it!
🐳

Of all of the fascinating research trends of my lifetime, the discovery and gradual understanding of animal languages is one of the most delightful

more evidence that 'birdsong' and 'whale song' are less analogous to human song and more analogous to speech

I wonder if non-human vocalizations will eventually lose the 'song' moniker

With everything seemingly going to shits these days you'll be pleased to hear that sperm whale vowels behave like human vowels.

She‘s the best.