In the late 1960s, scientists, including principal CETI advisor Dr. Roger Payne, discovered that whales sing to one another. His recordings, “Songs of the Humpback Whale”, sparked the “Save the Whales” movement, one of the most successful conservation initiatives in history. The campaign eventually led to the Marine Mammal Protection Act that marked the end of large-scale whaling and saved several whale populations from extinction.
All this by just hearing the sounds of whales. Imagine what would happen if we could understand them?
In 2020, Project CETI formed as a 501c3 nonprofit organization with catalyst funding from the TED Audacious Prize.
It was perfectly clear to me that nature was under the most appalling assaults, and most people didn’t seem to know anything about it. And I thought, what could I do, if the only thing I know about is the sounds that animals make and respond to? And I thought — whales! That’s what I could do.
We at CETI are unified by the shared goal of applying technology to amplify the magic of our natural world. Our hope is that CETI’s findings will show that technology can bring us closer to nature.
CETI’s science team is made up of world’s leading artificial intelligence and natural language processing experts, cryptographers, linguists, marine biologists, roboticists and underwater acousticians from network of universities and other partners.
CETI’s nonprofit team is based in the United States and Dominica and is responsible for the organization’s core mission and operations.
CETI fellows participate directly in CETI’s research, have the opportunity to engage in a variety of programming and mentorship opportunities and receive diving certification. Fellows also engage with local schools and organizations and complete a final project as part of the program. After they graduate from the program, fellows remain involved as mentors, session facilitators and community leaders.
A core part of CETI’s mission is for new research and knowledge about the sperm whales to bring more attention to the Dominican-led marine industry and support Dominica's conservation leadership in the Caribbean.
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CETI’s research is being conducted through partnerships with the following institutions:
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