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TALKING SHIH TZU
Dogs and their owners will be able to SPEAK to each other using AI in future, claims TV vet
The news comes as an AI translator has developed a ruff understanding of dog barks
ARTIFICIAL intelligence will let dog owners chinwag with their pets, says a TV vet.
Advances in the technology will translate woofs and meows — and could let animals talk to humans, Dr Jess French believes.
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Dr French, host of Minibeast Adventure on CBeebies, said: “Yes, I think at some point we are going to be able to communicate with animals.
“Potentially dogs are going to come into the vet’s and instead of a conversation with their caregiver, I might just be speaking directly to the dog through some sort of technology.”
Dr French, who has degrees in zoology and veterinary science, added: “We’re still quite far away from that reality. I’d say we are in the listening phase at the moment.
“We’re collecting and analysing loads of data about how animals communicate, which is not always through sounds.”
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But Dr French warned against the barking mad idea of chewing the ear off animals before assessing the risks.
She told the Infinite Monkey Cage podcast at the Cheltenham Science Festival: “There is perhaps a danger.
“Some people are saying ‘we’ve collected this information, maybe we should start to play these recordings back to the animals and see how they respond’.
“I think, you know, that’s quite a dangerous thing to do.
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“Whales will sometimes take a message and spread it across the ocean, across the globe, and we could be spreading all kinds of whale fake news.”
It comes after The Sun revealed an AI translator had developed a ruff understanding of dog barks when adapted to decode canine sounds.
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Researchers in Mexico were yapping with delight at the software identifying different tones of emotion through woofs from different breeds.
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