The Double Contingency Problem: AI Recursion and the Limits of Interspecies Understanding

The paper titled 'The Double Contingency Problem: AI Recursion and the Limits of Interspecies Understanding' explores the intersection of AI systems and animal communication. While current bioacoustic AI demonstrates impressive cross-species performance, it fails to address how AI's recursive cognition interacts with the communicative processes of other species. This interaction creates a double contingency problem, where each species' communication is shaped by distinct ecological and evolutionary contexts, while AI processes these signals through its own architectural and training conditions. The author, drawing on Yuk Hui's philosophical insights, argues that AI systems are not merely neutral pattern detectors but recursive cognitive agents that may obscure or distort the communicative structures of other species. This highlights the urgent need to reconceptualize bioacoustic AI, advocating for a shift from a focus on universal pattern recognition to fostering diplomatic encounters …