If you are a pet parent, there has probably been at least one occasion when you gazed at your dog or cat and thought, “I truly wish I could comprehend you.” Perhaps it’s when they rouse you at four in the morning by leaping onto your chest, meowing as though the world is coming to an end. Or maybe you simply want to grasp what those little chuffs signify when your dog grumbles at you. Well, soon, we might have AI that enables us to converse with cats and even engage with dogs.
There’s an app for that
Currently, one of the top choices is Meowtalk, a mobile application that merges the strength of machine learning with the sounds your cat produces. Per the app’s website, it’s the “#1 science-backed and AI-driven cat translator app.” However, it’s important to note that, as Scientific American highlights, the only genuine research we have discussing the app’s precision comes from the team involved with it.
Naturally, there’s nothing preventing you from testing it yourself. But, this represents just one method that companies are trying to take advantage of our wish to communicate with our pets. Indeed, it’s abundantly clear that the sounds animals produce are intended to express some kind of significance. We’ve even witnessed situations where it appears creatures like humpback whales are attempting to convey messages to humans. Additionally, we’ve found success with animals using buttons to transmit messages. However, an AI that genuinely allows us to converse with our cats as if they were human? That still feels a touch implausible, doesn’t it?
It’s not all fantasy
Regardless of your opinion on the matter, there is some scientific foundation to support it. For instance, ethologists (a fancy term for scientists who investigate animal behavior) have categorized many of the sounds that cats produce into specific groups. Nonetheless, these categories also encompass a multitude of variations. This can be observed in any home that hosts multiple cats. For example, my spouse and I have three cats, and each of them reacts to us in distinct manners. One even appears to mimic pigeon-like sounds when content.
However, more than one company is aiming to enter the realm of deciphering your cat’s communication patterns. Just last December, a Chinese firm known as Baidu submitted a patent application for a method designed to convert animal sounds into human language. A representative from the company informed Reuters last May that the system remains in the research stage.
When combined with other efforts to decode the significance behind our animals’ sounds, it won’t be too shocking when AI allows us to converse with our cats. The only question left for us is whether we are truly prepared to hear everything they have to communicate.
