This year, AI hardware is the latest buzzword. And apparently we’re also officially entering the era where your dog might start talking back to you. No, your Labrador hasn’t secretly been working on a stand-up comedy routine. It’s all thanks to a new voice-activated collar from a company called Personifi AI, which is trying to turn your pet into a chatbot-wearing companion.
This isn’t exactly Dr. Dolittle levels of communication. The collar has a microphone and speaker, allowing it to hear your voice and respond with a pre-recorded human voice. That’s the caveat – you’re technically chatting to a cleverly programmed device, not unlocking your pet’s secret inner monologue. So it’s a little less advanced than an AI chatbot like ChatGPT. It can’t think on the fly, but rather uses around 8000 lines of pre-recorded dialogue.
Inspired by McHale’s own close call with his dog, Roscoe, the …