Chinese Tech Giant Wants to Translate Your Cat's Meows Using AI

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Chinese tech company Baidu is working on an artificial intelligence-based translation system that could finally decode the greatest language mystery in the world: your cat's meows.

As Reuters reports, the company filed a patent with the China National Intellectual Property Administration proposing an AI-powered system to translate animal sounds.

But whether it'll ultimately be successful in deciphering your dog's barks or your cat's meows remains to be seen. Despite years of research, scientists are still far from deciphering animal communication.

Baidu is hoping that the system could bring humans and their pets closer together. According to the company's patent document, it could allow for a "deeper emotional communication and understanding between animals and humans, improving the accuracy and efficiency of interspecies communication."

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A spokesperson told Reuters that the system is "still in the research phase," suggesting there’s still significant work to be done.

But Baidu has already made considerable headway. The company, which also runs the country's largest search engine, has invested in AI for years, releasing its latest AI model last month.

Baidu is only one of many companies working to decode animal communication using AI. For instance, California-based nonprofit Earth Species Project has been attempting to build an AI-based system that can translate birdsong, the whistles of dolphins, and the rumblings of elephants.

A separate nonprofit called NatureLM recently announced that it secured $17 million in grants to create language models that can identify the ways animals communicate with each other.

Researchers have also attempted to use machine learning to understand the vocalizations of crows and monkeys.

While a direct animal translation tool is more than likely still many years out, some scientists have claimed early successes. Last year, a team of scientists from SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) claimed to have "conversed" with a humpback whale in Alaska.

"The things we learn from communicating with whales could help us when it comes time to connect with aliens," SETI researcher and University of California Davis animal behavioralist Josie Hubbard told the New York Post at the time.

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