AI is now taking over your pet, thanks to Shazam!
The Takeaway:
- Shazam! is a new wearable pet band powered by machine learning that lets you "talk" with your pet.
- The band uses machine learning to "interpret a pet’s emotions, health needs, and reasoning."
- The Shazam! band prices start at $495, and require additional subscription fees for some services.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has infiltrated our daily lives and discussions. It's hard to go by a single day without seeing someone in the news or on social media boasting about how AI will better our lives in some specific way. Whether it's ordering food at a restaurant, or improving our ability to search, or making fake explicit images of Taylor Swift, AI's enthusiasts are trying to make it known in every conceivable aspect of our lives.
Now it's coming for your pets.
Shazam Band - A Pet Band with Machine Learning
Today, Personifi AI (not to be confused with personif.ai, which Google Search recommends as the first result) announced the availability of its Shazam Band, which claims it will "awaken your pet's inner human." The product is a wearable band (not a collar; it does not have a D ring) with a battery that can listen to humans, respond to them with a selected personality, and provide useful information about the pet's current status based on machine learning.
Wired's product preview explores its more practical applications: it can detect rattlesnakes, missing/kidnapped pets, and food and water routines. These detections can then be used to alert a pet owner of the pet's danger or needs for morning breakfast. It can also make record of a pet's anxiety, such as around fireworks or thunder, activity, and sleep.
The Ultra Plus version of the band - with the BrainBoost subscription that powers most of its functions - includes GPS tracking and "wander prevention" geofencing. However, this is not available for the smaller sized collar that fits cats or dogs with less than 12" necks. Keep that in mind before buying for a feline friend.
Although the selling point of the band - its ability to hold conversations between pets and their owners - is at the forefront, it does not feature synthesized voices like Alexa or Siri. Instead, the band features multiple personalities, each with thousands of pre-recorded lines from voice actors. Wired compares it more like interacting with an NPC in a video game. These personas are meant to be permanent after an initial 30 day trial period to find the right fit for you and your pet - afterward, it will cost to change them.
What will pets even say with the Shazam Band?
Shazam's website notes that its conversations are "often based on reality." AI hallucinations aside, the product claims that it "detects your feelings, learns your routines, knows if you are gone, knows it's you or a family member are talking to it." Apparently, it also knows whether or not you make "certain bodily noises," which I hope is limited to burping and farting.
(I knew a dog once that was very vocal with other bodily noises in the house and it made for very awkward scenarios with my roommate.)
Realistically, the band is not giving you actual feedback from your pet - it doesn't connect to their brainwaves, understand their barks and meows, or take biometric data. Instead, the band's features make it out to be more akin to a virtual pet (like the Tamagotchi) your pet wears - with an always-on microphone.
Daniel Quagliozzi, a feline training and behavior specialist, told Wired that when it came to cats, there'd be little a band like this could do to actually bridge the cat-human communication divide, saying:
“Realistically, that collar would just be saying ‘get this fucking collar off me’ all the time.”
Where you can find Shazam Band
If you've read all this and think "wow, that product sounds amazing!" or at least, "wow, that's going to be hilarious to annoy the family with," good news for you - Shazam Band is currently available for pre-order, with limited supply available until February 2025. The collars costs $495, or $595 for the Ultra Plus version (no extra small sizes available).
BrainBoost powers most of the band's functions, and is included with the cost of the band for the first year. Thereafter, the BrainBoost costs $195/year for standard bands, or $295/year for Ultra Plus.
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