Open Conversations: AI and the Language of Life (Aza Raskin)

If elephants have names, dolphins speak in third person, and plants respond to sound, what does that say about how we define intelligence—and what else have we missed by not knowing how to listen? In this Open Conversation, Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Earth Species Project and the Center for Humane Technology, shares how his team is using AI to study how animals and even plants communicate, revealing how much has been happening just beyond the edge of human perception. As AI sharpens our ability to detect patterns in nature, it’s not just other species coming into view. These discoveries are challenging our assumptions about language, thought, and what it means to live in a world full of minds we’ve only just begun to notice. Filmed at Funding the Commons at the Internet Archive, San Francisco, March 2025. Relevant Projects: Earth Species Project: https://www.earthspecies.org Center for Humane Technology: https://www.humanetech.com Funding the Commons: https://www.fundingthecommons.io Thank You to Our Sponsors: Protocol Labs: https://www.protocol.ai/ NEAR Foundation: https://near.foundation/ Holonym: https://holonym.io/ Octant: https://octant.app/ Drips Network: https://drips.network/ Filecoin Foundation: https://fil.org/ OpenLedger: https://www.openledger.xyz/ Orange DAO: https://www.orangedao.xyz/ Regen Network: https://www.regen.network/