The fall of birth rates worldwide is having two major impacts on our relationship with pets. The first is an increase in pet adoption, as adults look for extra companionship. The second is an increase in living standards for those pets, as the money saved by not having kids is often redirected towards pampering the pets that fill the empty space. This has led to the rise of ‘DINKWADs’—dual income, no kids, with a dog—who are investing heavily in pet care. In Korea — a harbinger of things to come if birth rates continue to fall — dog strollers are actually outselling baby strollers.
These trends are music to the ears of business owners across the global pet industry, which is on course to skyrocket in value from $320 billion in 2023 to $500 billion by the end of this decade. Sellers of pets, kennel owners, and veterinarians, as well as manufacturers of food, pharmaceuticals, toys, clothing, accessories, and robots for pets are all expecting a period of sustained growth.
Wait .. robots for pets? What?
It turns out that the current AI explosion and the massive increase in pet ownership are not entirely separate phenomena. They have many points of intersection, from AI-powered health diagnostic tools, to apps that analyze your pet’s face or nose print, to algorithms that claim to translate your dog’s barks into human language, and more.
Welcome to the new, and slightly strange, future of pet AI.
Making new connections
We share our lives with our pets, but we’ve never been able to truly understand how they experience the things around them. What is it like to see, hear, and smell the world through their minds? How do they think about being physically small and entirely dependent on people, in a world made for and by those same people?
As German writer W.G. Sebald famously wrote, “Men and animals regard each other across a gulf of mutual incomprehension.” For centuries, we have resigned ourselves to never crossing that gulf — until now.
Enter BarkGPT, a forthcoming app that listens to your dog’s barks and tells you what they are likely to mean. The concept is intriguing, and it is certainly plausible that an algorithm can distinguish between excited, aggressive, and fearful vocalizations. How much more accurate it can get beyond that is an open question, of course, since we can’t directly ask our pets if the translations are correct — but user feedback over time can certainly help fine-tune the analysis.
Image Credit: BarkGPT
Another app in development, Tably, aims to analyze the facial expressions of cats, to determine whether they are comfortable or in pain. This kind of insight can help cat owners decide whether their pet needs surgery for an existing condition, or if they are recovering well from a prior surgery, or in case of persistent pain, whether an end-of-life decision might be appropriate.
Cats are notoriously hard to read, unlike dogs which are almost always expressive with their emotions. Yet a recent study suggests that cats actually make hundreds of unique facial expressions — many more, in fact, than people. These movements of the eyes, ears, and whiskers, though very subtle, can be analyzed by AI to identify their emotional state.
Image Credit: sylvester.ai
Pet health trackers
Doctors already use AI to predict our own health trajectories, so why not use the same technology for our pets?
The petcare division of Mars, the well-known snack company, has developed an AI-powered tool to determine whether a given cat or dog is likely to develop chronic kidney disease (CKD). The analysis requires no additional veterinary procedures apart from the standard blood and urine tests that are already performed as standard practice by vets. When the data from those previously administered tests is fed into the algorithm, users receive a report on whether their pet will likely develop CKD in the next few years.
Image Credit: PyTorch on Youtube
Other uses of AI in pet healthcare include video analysis of where (and how often) your pet scratches itself — which can suggest skin issues that need special attention. Algorithms can also analyze diet and weight information to determine whether obesity is a current or future concern. They can also count the number of steps your pet takes each day — just like your smartwatch does for you — to see whether your pet gets enough regular exercise.
Furthermore, pet biometrics can use identifying information, such as their unique nose prints, to keep track of pets in a way that is less intrusive than the microchips that are normally used for the same purpose.
And when you’re away from home for a few hours, and your dog has nothing to do, that’s when it’s time to switch on your dedicated home robot companion. Ogmen Robotics has developed a relatively small, AI-enabled playmate for dogs — a new product category that is sure to expand in the years ahead.
Their home robot can move itself from room to room, playing fetch with your dog and even feeding it at the appropriate times. Its two-way audio and video feed can also connect you with your dog via the internet, no matter where you are.
The dawn of premium pet tech is here to stay, and our relationships with our pets will never be the same. We just hope people remember to have human kids as well, so that future generations will be around to enjoy wholesome, AI-enhanced fun with their own pets as well.
