DW: I don't want to know what my pet is saying. It'd be nothing but profanity.
This is a complicated way to find out that your dog wants a treat. A Chinese startup claims to have built the first genuinely functional AI-powered pet translator, and it already has over 10,000 preorders. Hangzhou-based Meng Xiaoyi says its wearable device, which clips around a pet's neck, can interpret cat and dog vocalizations, emotions, and behavioral cues with an accuracy rate approaching 95-percent, built on Alibaba's Qwen large language model and millions of animal voiceprint data points.
Priced at about $118, the gadget generated intense debate almost immediately on Chinese social media, as you would imagine; skeptics pointed out that the company, founded in January, hasn't released a single independent study or accuracy test to back up its headline claim. All it has offered so far are promotional videos of colorful speech bubbles appearing next to meowing cats and barking dogs. Despite that, the device secured $1-million in seed funding.
Source: Oddity Central