If experts become successful in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), we may require the use of artificial intelligence in understanding what they are saying and even talk back to them.

In popular culture, aliens are depicted as English-speaking entities, or creatures who can become instantly understandable with the use of a universal translator. In reality, this task may not be so easy.

There are possible problems that must be considered. First, any potential aliens we may encounter will not be speaking a human language. Second, we lack knowledge about their culture or sociology that makes it difficult for us to understand the relevance of their language to their cultural standard.

For decades, scientists have considered the possibility of receiving recognizable mathematical information from aliens, although it is not the only possible message that we might receive. There are other signals that might be more sophisticated in their design as the aliens try to convey more complicated concepts. This poses the third problem that alien language could be orders of magnitude more complex than human communication.

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