Our 2024 Annual Report: A New Chapter in Understanding Life on Earth
What if we could understand the languages of other species? At Earth Species Project, 2024 was a year of meaningful progress toward that vision. From advancing powerful new AI tools to deepening collaborations across ethology and conservation, we took important steps to help illuminate the rich communication systems of the rest of nature.
Our 2024 Annual Report reflects this pivotal moment. If you’re curious about our technical breakthroughs, our field-building efforts, or the broader implications for society, we invite you to explore what we’ve built—and where we’re headed next.
Dive into the full report here.
A major milestone in 2024 was the development of a new strategy that will help us achieve our vision: a relationship with the rest of nature that allows the diversity of life to thrive. Our strategy is built around three core program pillars that underpin everything from how we prioritize technical development to how we think about the long-term impact of our work.
Research to Decode
We made big research strides in 2024.
We deepened our technical leadership with Olivier Pietquin joining the team as our Chief Scientist. Under his leadership, we introduced NatureLM-audio, the first large audio language model for animal sounds. We also equipped the field with several new models and benchmarks including BirdAVES, Biodenoising, and BEBE.
And in collaboration with our research partners, we progressed AI-assisted animal communication studies with carrion crows, jumping spiders, zebra finches and more.
Building the Field
We know that this work cannot succeed in isolation. The entire field needs more resources, talent, technical infrastructure, and collaborative energy
To that end, we released several open-source research tools in 2024 on GitHub and HuggingFace and our models are being adopted by the scientific community. With support from Footprint Coalition and Experiment.com, we funded new research projects to help external teams use these tools and build on top of our work. We also co-organized leading scientific convenings like VIHAR (Virtual Interaction and Human-Animal Robot Communication) at the prominent speech processing conference Interspeech, and contributed to the Animals in Translation workshop co-hosted by Interspecies Internet and Santa Fe Institute.
Preparing Society for Impact
Around the world, momentum is growing for new systems that recognize the agency and rights of nature. The foundations of a new paradigm are forming, signaling a broader cultural shift – one that asks us to reimagine our place in the world as participants in a shared conversation. Our third pillar focuses on preparing the world for that shift.
In 2024, our work captured global attention. ESP was featured in The New Yorker, Nature, PBS, Vox, Axios, and The Financial Times.
We’re also working to inspire new systems of governance, new responsible use frameworks, and new ideas about how humanity might adjust our relationship to the rest of nature.
2025 and Beyond
This past year was about setting the stage. We refined our focus, built the right team, and embraced what AI research has long taught us: scale matters.
We are more committed than ever before to building this field and bringing others along for a broader mindset shift. Helping people understand that we are a part of nature and not separate from it is as vital as the science itself.
ESP has never been more capable, confident, or clear in our purpose. With your support, we’re heading into 2025 with momentum and with a vision that’s no longer just possible, but increasingly within reach.
To learn more, dive into the full 2024 Annual Report.
And to be a part of the journey in 2025 and beyond, please reach out to our Director of Impact, Jane Lawton at jane@earthspecies.org.
