Introducing the Coller Dolittle Challenge
In May 2025, we were delighted to announce the winner of the inaugural USD$100,000 prize from the Coller Dolittle Challenge for Interspecies Two-Way Communication. The 2025 prize was been awarded to a team of US based researchers who have discovered the first evidence in dolphins of a possible language-like communication system, with shared, context-specific meanings. The details for the 2026 contest will be shared shortly.
Overview
Inspired by the Turing test, the Coller Dolittle Challenge rewards scientific research on interspecies communication algorithms.
It offers an annual $100,000 prize and a major award of either a $10 million equity investment or $500,000 in cash for a breakthrough in the field.
See our 2025 winnersCriteria
The first annual challenge in 2025 will honour recent scientific work meeting these criteria:
01 – NON-INVASIVENESS
Using a non-invasive approach to communicate with or decipher an organism’s communication.
02 – VERSATILITY
Demonstration of communication in more than one context (e.g., alarm, mating, foraging) using the organism’s endogenous communication signals preferably in an interactive and autonomous way.
03 – RESPONSIVENESS
Demonstrating a measurable response of the organism to the signals broadcasted to it.
Prize Money & Equity Investment
ANNUAL PRIZE
$100K
Prize Money
EQUITY INVESTMENT
$10m
or $500K cash for a breakthrough in the field.
The Finalists
Nightingales
Can We Talk to the Animals? Scientists Decode Nightingale’s Complex Songs.
A project by Daniela Vallentin and Jan Clemens, from Germany.
Marmoset
“Naming” Behaviour in Marmoset Monkeys, Offering Clues to Human Language Evolution.
A project by David Omer, from Israel.
Dolphins
First evidence of widespread sharing of stereotyped non-signature whistles in wild dolphins.
A project by Laela Sayigh, from USA.
CUTTLEFISH
Cuttlefish interaction “arm wave signs”.
A project by Sophie Cohen-Bodénès and Peter Neri, from France.
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Jeremy Coller Foundation is a registered charity (no. 1163970) and a company limited by guarantee (no. 9696841) in England and Wales