Chickense for eggheads: AI technology translates chicken clucks with 80% accuracy

Pet owners often wish their pets could speak, enabling better interaction with them and better care for their needs, enhancing their welfare, and potentially improving our understanding of their behaviour and emotions.

By gaining a deeper understanding of animals, we can better meet their needs and improve their overall well-being and it seems that with the help of AI, we can now do that with chickens.

According to New York Post, scientists from Japan say they can understand what different chicken sounds mean using AI.

Researchers assert that they can identify six different emotional states in chickens, including hunger, fear, anger, contentment, enthusiasm, and distress, with 80% accuracy by employing AI to examine the vocalisations.

The study led by University of Tokyo professor Adrian David Cheok, has published a proof-of-concept study in Research Square detailing the team's findings, which have not yet been reviewed but has been submitted to Nature Scientific Reports.

“It’s a cluckin’ great leap for science!” said Cheok. “And this is just the beginning.

"We hope to be able to adapt these AI and ML techniques to other animals and lay the groundwork for incredible intelligence in various animal-related industries. If we know what animals are feeling we can design a much better world for them.”

“Our methodology employs a cutting-edge AI technique we call Deep Emotional Analysis Learning (DEAL), a highly mathematical and innovative approach that allows for the nuanced understanding of emotional states through auditory data,” Cheok continued.

Eight animal psychologists and veterinarians joined hands with Cheok to share their knowledge on the emotional states of chickens and examined a sample of 80 birds and 200 hours' worth of audio, New York Post reported.

Scientists used AI to accurately identify emotional states in chickens by analysing 100 hours of recordings and labelling each sound with an emotional state which were then uploaded to the AI.

“This research not only opens up new avenues for understanding and improving animal welfare but also sets a precedent for further studies in AI-driven interspecies communication,” said the team.

With their findings, the team of scientists plans to create a free app for farmers to communicate with their chickens, as chickens are highly social animals.

Research suggests that chickens may be intelligent, and exhibit self-awareness and numerical abilities.

Meanwhile, according to Farming Online, this chicken-translating technology can potentially improve veterinary medicine, improve conditions in poultry farming, and facilitate human-animal interaction.