Communication is ubiquitous across the tree of life. It’s time we start listening.

Learn who we are and why we believe listening across species matters.

Interspecies Internet (IIO) is a 501(c)(3) charity and a multidisciplinary forum to advance interspecies communication towards conservation and understanding, with 4500+ members and affiliates, including leading sector professionals.

We facilitate tool-building, share research, and host global conversations that challenge anthropocentric thinking and center diverse forms of cognition.

  • (2013) The Idea Is Born

    Diana Reiss, Peter Gabriel, Neil Gershenfeld, and Vint Cerf share their vision with the world. A TED talk that sparked global curiosity about interspecies communication and an interspecies internet. Watch here →

  • (2019) First Scientific Gathering

    MIT, Google, and the Jeremy Coller Foundation believed in our vision, and we hosted the first IIO Workshop. Jane Goodall opened the event, which was packed beyond capacity with scientists, artists, and innovators.

  • (2020) Public Engagement Begins

    Our first digital workshop connected 115 researchers, while 723 people from six continents joined our public conference. These events marked the beginning of global community-building.

  • (2021-2022) Global Network Grows

    We launched a monthly online lecture series featuring leading researchers working on interspecies communication and animal intelligence. Free and open to all, each session includes community discussion and is available on our website and YouTube channel.

  • (2024) Defining Cross-Species

    Experts gather to imagine criteria for “decoding” interspecies communication. The proceedings of the workshop make up our first publication.

    See Animals in Translation Workshop

  • (2025) The Network Expands

    The field expands and the IIO network grows to over 4,500+ members, including scientists, artists, technologists, and designers from around the world.

Our story

Founded by Dr. Vinton Cerf (Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google), Peter Gabriel (musician and humanitarian activist), Dr. Neil Gershenfeld (Director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms), and Dr. Diana Reiss (pioneering marine mammal scientist), Interspecies Internet is a testament to the innovative potential of cross-disciplinary collaboration.

The internet was initially designed as a system to connect computers, quickly came to be used to connect humans instead—a shift which unlocked remarkable and unforeseen impacts. An interspecies internet is inspired by this potential. It envisions the evolution of a shared interactive and sensory environment for planetary connectivity that opens new windows into the minds of animals and encourages our commitment to valuing and conserving the biodiversity of life and cognition.

Since presenting the idea to the public in 2013, the intention remains the same: that the windows we open into the minds of animals may encourage commitment to valuing and conserving life’s biodiversity and its manifold domains of cognition. 

From Science Fiction to Global Movement

Interspecies Internet is here to encourage, explore and facilitate interfaces for interspecies communication and approaches for deciphering the communication of non-human animals. 

We connect multidisciplinary groups, driving collaboration within the field by: 

  • Tooling: Technology and Deployment

  • Equipping: Education and Resources

  • Connecting: Discourse Development and Public Engagement

New forms of knowledge emerge at the intersection of different fields: when computer scientists work with biologists, artists engage with AI researchers, or linguists collaborate with ethologists. These intellectual partnerships expand the scope of what’s possible at the crossroads of science, engineering, language, philosophy, ethics and law. 

So, while the proposition of an interspecies internet seems like one lifted from the pages of a science fiction novel, it is in fact rooted in a rich history of real-world inquiry spanning animal communication, bioacoustics, behavioral ecology, animal cognition, conservation, neurobiology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more.

“Harnessing technology to facilitate communication with other animals and helping us decode the myriad forms of communication used by other species is a challenge that both befits humanity and benefits us in the long run.”
— Dr. Diana Reiss, Co-founder and Trustee

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