There’s a lot more to AI than just chatbots and video slop. At UC Berkeley, researchers are using new AI tools in surprising ways. Here’s how: 🌟 1. Learning how whales communicate: A team of Cal linguistics experts is using AI to help study sperm whale calls, uncovering that whale communication might be closer to human language than we once thought. They say such revelations could benefit conservation and animal rights movements. 🌟 2. Monsoon predictions: Cal and U of Chicago scientists adapted a sophisticated AI-based weather prediction model to accurately forecast torrential weather, helping some 38 million farmers in India’s monsoon zone in 2025. It also accurately predicted a three-week stop to the rain, giving farmers enough time to successfully plan their crop planting.
 🌟 3. Using “computational folklore” to study how stories spread: Wherever storytelling happens, it carries meaning. Berkeley Professor and folklorist Timothy Tangherlini is using AI to identify patterns in ...