What If We Understood What Animals Are Saying? The Legal Impact Of AI-assisted Studies Of Animal Communication

Abstract

This Article explores the burgeoning fields of artificial intelligence and bioacoustics and their potential to reshape nonhuman animal law. Historically, Western science dismissed nonhuman animal vocalizations as simple and lacking complexity. However, recent advancements in recording technology, artificial intelligence, and interdisciplinary collaborations have revealed that many species, from whales to honeybees, possess sophisticated communication systems. Pioneering projects, like Project Cetacean Translation Initiative’s (CETI) work with sperm whales, are challenging long-held assumptions about animal communication and opening the door to new legal and ethical considerations. This Article examines the legal implications of understanding nonhuman animal communication by asking: If these initiatives succeed, how might the legal terrain be reshaped? This central question is addressed in two parts.

Part II considers the implications of proving cetaceans have a capacity for language. Our present understanding of sperm whale communication gives cause for optimism that proving cetaceans’ linguistic capacities are within reach. This groundbreaking discovery would challenge current linguistic theories that confine language to humans and could significantly influence legal frameworks. Historical examples of how scientific advancements concerning great apes have led to legal reforms are analyzed to demonstrate what is already possible and set the stage for the forward-looking analyses that follow in Part III. Part III considers the impact of understanding the content of cetacean communication. Current knowledge about cetacean suffering and needs has been insufficient to fully protect them from human-induced harms. However, grasping the nuances of their communication could provide deeper insights into their behavior, suffering, and interactions.

Part III proceeds in three Subparts. First, it assesses how understanding communication content could improve regulation of chronic underwater noise pollution under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Second, it considers how this understanding may catalyze new rights for cetaceans by taking instruction from existing human rights law on the right to be free from torture and the right to participate in cultural life. Finally, this Part explores how understanding content might spark a fundamental transformation of the station that cetaceans occupy under the law—from property to legal personhood. While this Article focuses on the nonhuman animal whose communications have been most studied, it aims to illuminate the legal implications of the growing number of studies on various nonhuman animals—from birds to elephants and countless others. We invite you to explore this emerging legal landscape with us.

Keywords: animal communication, animal law, animal rights, artificial intelligence, bioacoustics