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	Podcast:		Outrage + Optimism
	Episode:		Listening to the Living World: Can AI help us hear the planet?
	Category:		News & Politics
	Duration:		00:58:05
	Publish Date:		2025-08-28 05:00:00
	Description:		What if we could not only listen to the rest of nature, but actually understand it? From decoding whale songs to giving nature a legal voice, the possibilities are tantalising - and they may not be as far-fetched as they sound. That’s why the Earth Species Project (ESP) is racing to use artificial intelligence to translate the communication of other species before they fall silent. How can this cutting edge technology analyse data that would take human researchers a lifetime? And how might findings feed into emerging ideas about ecocentric governance and earth law? We hear from ESP’s Aza Raskin (Co-founder), Jane Lawton (Managing Director) and Olivier Pietquin (Chief Scientist) about this extraordinary mission, and the tools they’re using to achieve the previously unimaginable. Plus, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson explore the promises and pitfalls of AI: its energy demands, its unpredictable impacts on democracy and capitalism, and its potential to become a ‘Galileo moment’ in how humans relate to the living world. This episode features recordings of animal species - some of which were used in the training of ESP’s NatureLM-Audio model. Learn more
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