OMSCS Seminar: Understanding Animal Communication and Behavior with Artificial Intelligence

  • Overview
  • Course Content
  • Requirements & Materials
Overview

OMSCS Seminar: Understanding Animal Communication and Behavior with Artificial Intelligence

Course Description

Modern AI technologies like large language models are transforming how humans work and communicate, but what about their use beyond humans? At Georgia Tech, researchers use AI with embedded sensors in toys to study sea otters and dogs, and work with marine biologists to explore whether wild dolphins have language using sound recognition AI. This seminar introduces animal communication, custom tech for fieldwork, and applied AI, all through the lens of real, ongoing research projects. The material focuses heavily on the engineering aspects required to build and deploy custom AI hardware and software, but these will be presented in an accessible introductory style. Additionally, no formal background in psychology or biology is required, as the seminar covers these topics at a high level.

Course Content
  • Intro and Background
  • Intro to Animal Behavior and Perception
  • Traditional Study Methods (Ethology, Comparative Psychology)
  • History of Human–Animal Communication
  • Animal Computer Interaction
  • Goals and Priorities of Computing for and with Animals
  • Designing and Building Custom Computer Systems for Animals
  • Field Research (Tales From the Field)
  • Animal Computer Interaction
  • Animal Behavior Analysis and Activity Recognition with AI
  • Acoustic Artificial Intelligence for Classifying Animal Vocalizations
  • Generative Artificial Intelligence for Animal Computer Interaction
Requirements & Materials

Materials

PROVIDED (Student will receive):

  • All content is available in Canvas.

Session Details

Who Should Attend

This seminar is designed for OMSCS students and alumni interested in animals and how technology can be used to understand and communicate with them better.

Computer science students coding on computers

What You Will Learn

  • An introduction of animal communication, sensory, and perceptual abilities
  • The history of human efforts to understand animal communication and language
  • The design and use of custom computer hardware for studying animals in their natural habitats
  • Traditional pattern recognition and machine learning approaches in animal behavior research
  • Advances in the study of animal communication made possible by generative AI technologies
Female professional in computer science lab looking at tablet

How You Will Benefit

  • Understand how studies are designed to examine the cognitive and linguistic abilities of non-human animals.
  • Become familiar with the materials and techniques required for creating custom computer systems that can be field-deployed by scientists.
  • Learn about both traditional (pattern recognition, machine learning) and modern (generative, deep learning) AI techniques.
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    Taught by Experts in the Field

TRAIN AT YOUR LOCATION

We enable employers to provide specialized, on-location training on their own timetables. Our world-renowned experts can create unique content that meets your employees' specific needs. We also have the ability to deliver courses via web conferencing or on-demand online videos. For 15 or more students, it is more cost-effective for us to come to you.

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  • Flexible Schedule
  • Group Training
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  • On-Site Training
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