A new mobile application can translate what a cat is trying to say to its owner by using artificial intelligence (AI).
While dogs are more expressive and owners can understand their emotions, it is difficult to interpret what a cat is trying to say to the owner.
MeowTalk, the app will allow users to listen to the meows and translate them into English phrases like “feed me” or “I’m in love” with a smartphone.
App developers say that every cat has its own vocabulary and distinct meow for a message it communicates to her owner. Two different meows in the same context can have different meanings.
They say that cats do not necessarily have a language since they do not share the same meows to say the same things. However, they believe machine learning can be used to translate individual cats’ meows.
MeowTalk is not perfect as its users say that owners have to adapt to the cat’s person language on their own. A user said the app altered translations and added them to the application “to make it more accurate”.
“I you understand what the meow means, why use the app at all?” a cat lover said.
Regardless, the application became a huge success going viral in Japan with 17 million downloads. Nearly 250 million unique meows were recorded.
