Profitable the Hearts of Young Folks

Amid the pattern of “meticulous pet – keeping”, younger folks attempt to economize on themselves, totally implementing the idea of price – efficient alternate options and worth – for – cash consumption. However, in terms of their furry pals, they adhere to the precept of “spend when necessary” with none hesitation. They rejoice their pets’ birthdays, take skilled pictures of them, and in addition buy excessive – tech good gadgets that may price hundreds of yuan, together with the fashionable AI litter packing containers, AI pet collars, and so forth.

The “In – depth Exploration and Investment Decision – Making Analysis Report on China’s Pet Products and Services Industry from 2025 to 2030” launched by the China Commercial Industry Research Institute reveals that in 2024, the market measurement of China’s good pet merchandise was roughly 10.2 billion yuan, accounting for 20% of all the pet merchandise market. Analysts from the China Commercial Industry Research Institute predict that the market measurement of China’s good pet merchandise will attain 11 billion yuan in 2025.

However, a belief disaster has quietly emerged. Are these AI litter packing containers, canine language translators, and good collars, that are wearing excessive – tech guises, actually “miracle tools” or simply “IQ taxes”? The younger people who find themselves continuously shopping for issues for his or her pets have grow to be the primary “guinea pigs” within the period of cyber pet – protecting.

AI Litter Boxes: Ripping off Cat Owners

It took lower than three months for Zhu Ying, a publish – 2000s workplace employee, to shift from excessive – tech pet – protecting to a extra laid – again strategy to cat – elevating.

It all began when Zhu Ying got here throughout a video after work. In the video, a Ragdoll cat jumped right into a excessive – tech – wanting white litter field. The proprietor may see on the cell app that the cat completed defecating in 50 seconds, and the feces have been in fine condition. According to AI evaluation, the cat’s defecation was regular, and there have been no urinary issues. The blogger within the video claimed that after utilizing this AI – enabled litter field that might detect the cat’s defecation scenario, she saved the hefty charges on the pet hospital, which may simply quantity to hundreds of yuan.

This made Zhu Ying a bit tempted. She had a 3 – yr – previous Ragdoll cat named Doudou, which had a fragile abdomen. A change within the climate or a swap in cat meals would trigger mushy stools. Last yr, Doudou vomited ceaselessly, and Zhu Ying spent greater than 5,000 yuan simply on hospital visits, and Doudou misplaced two catties in weight.

“As a worried mother, I still want to give Doudou the best,” Zhu Ying mentioned. She spent practically 3,000 yuan on this so – referred to as “miracle cat – raising tool”, the AI litter field. Although the worth of three,000 yuan was increased than most litter packing containers in the marketplace, what attracted Zhu Ying was the power to make use of AI to detect the cat’s well being. “Spending 3,000 yuan on a private doctor for my pet means Doudou doesn’t have to go to the hospital every season. It’s not that expensive when you think about it,” she thought.

When the litter field first arrived, Zhu Ying thought it seemed like a small spaceship, and the digicam on the physique was fairly distinguished. She excitedly filmed an unboxing vlog, then put in it based on the directions, linked it to the Internet, and entered Doudou’s “iris” (truly simply taking a photograph of the cat’s face). Doudou sniffed across the field for a very long time earlier than daring to leap in.

At first, when Zhu Ying obtained the AI well being experiences, she would verify them repeatedly. On the app, each time Doudou used the litter field, there could be a corresponding push notification: “Doudou has used the toilet, staying for 2 minutes and 15 seconds, weighing 7.3 kilograms.” Then the litter field would begin to mechanically take away odors and clear itself.

According to the promotion, this litter field had an unique picture – capturing algorithm that might detect the cat’s feces from a number of angles. The AI may monitor the accompanying cat litter by the digicam and remind the proprietor of urinary abnormalities by pH worth detection.

Less than a month later, Zhu Ying started to suspect that she had been “cheated”.

After the brand new litter field was put in, whereas at work, Zhu Ying obtained a push notification saying that “the cat is using the toilet frequently” and was suggested to take the cat to the hospital for a verify – up. Fearing that Doudou had a urinary downside, Zhu Ying instantly took a go away and rushed to the hospital with Doudou. However, the verify – up confirmed that it was a false alarm.

After returning dwelling, when Zhu Ying reviewed the video from the litter field, she discovered that the issue lay with the digicam, which was speculated to be primarily based on a picture – capturing algorithm. The reminder of “frequent toilet use” was as a result of the litter field would mistake an individual strolling by for the cat getting into. Sometimes, it might even detect a cat getting into when the field was empty. Since it could not even do the popularity correctly, Zhu Ying started to doubt the core perform of this AI litter field – well being monitoring.

Zhu Ying observed that the monitoring experiences at all times appeared to say the identical issues, like “feces are normal” and “sufficient water intake is recommended”. She suspected that these have been simply randomly mixed texts primarily based on the frequency and period of the cat’s rest room use. Once, after feeding Doudou new cat meals, it was visibly having mushy stools. While Zhu Ying was ready for an AI alarm, the push notification nonetheless mentioned “everything is normal, keep it up”. Instead of the promised synthetic intelligence, Zhu Ying solely felt prefer it was “artificial stupidity”.

Ultimately, the one actual use of this 3,000 – yuan litter field was the constructed – in digicam, which allowed Zhu Ying to remotely watch Doudou’s “funny postures” whereas utilizing the bathroom. However, this perform may very well be simply achieved by a digicam that price only some dozen yuan. Moreover, to easily assessment the surveillance footage, she needed to pay an extra price.

What made Zhu Ying much more pissed off was that not solely have been the marketed AI features of this 3,000 – yuan litter field ineffective, however there have been additionally issues with essentially the most fundamental product high quality. The litter field, which was speculated to be self – cleansing, smelled terribly. It turned out that the cat litter and feces had leaked into the interlayer sooner or later. When Zhu Ying contacted the customer support, she needed to bear the delivery price for returning it for restore. “It’s too much of a hassle, and I’m not even sure if it can be fixed. I might as well just stop using it,” she mentioned.

Finally, Zhu Ying switched again to a easy {hardware} toolbox as a “cost – effective alternative” litter field, which solely price a dozen yuan. After cleansing the costly AI litter field, she put it up on the market on Xianyu at a 20% low cost of the unique worth.

The sand – leaking AI litter field. Source: The interviewee

Costing Only a Few Dozen Yuan, however Sold for Thousands with AI Label

Zhu Ying was not the one one who was ripped off by spending 3,000 yuan. There is an entire neighborhood of cyber pet house owners who’ve had comparable dangerous experiences. Their tales resonate on second – hand platforms. Resale posts for “AI litter boxes” and “smart pet collars” are in every single place, and the explanations for resale are extremely constant: “The cat doesn’t use it” and “It’s inaccurate”.

Zhang Cheng, a publish – 1995s younger man, purchased an AI good collar value 300 US {dollars} for his Border Collie. This AI collar claimed to have the ability to monitor the canine’s coronary heart charge, physique temperature, and exercise degree and generate well being experiences utilizing AI. Zhang Cheng, who’s a tech fanatic and one of many early adopters of AI glasses and AR headsets, mentioned, “I’m willing to pay for technology.”

Zhang Cheng’s Border Collie is a big – breed canine. As it bought older, it developed persistent ailments equivalent to joint put on and coronary heart issues. Zhang Cheng would prepare a complete bodily examination for the canine each six months. At the start of this yr, a pal of Zhang Cheng’s misplaced his Golden Retriever on account of sudden liver failure due to premature verify – ups. This made Zhang Cheng fairly anxious. When he noticed this AI collar, he was instantly drawn to it, hoping to make use of AI to evaluate and keep away from the canine’s well being dangers.

When he first bought the collar, Zhang Cheng would usually publish pictures on WeChat Moments of his Border Collie taking part in with the AI collar on. The cool – black physique of the collar gave his canine a excessive – tech, elite look. However, it did not take lengthy for Zhang Cheng to begin doubting the intelligence of this collar.

Firstly, there have been frequent inaccuracies within the detection of key indicators. When Zhang Cheng was taking part in along with his canine on the garden at dwelling, the guts charge on the collar would all of the sudden soar from 110 beats per minute to 140 beats per minute, although the canine’s exercise degree did not improve considerably, and there was no speedy respiratory. When Zhang Cheng took the canine to the hospital for a verify – up, the outcomes confirmed that the canine’s cardiopulmonary perform was regular.

“It’s understandable that the collar may be inaccurate when the dog is running, but it’s also inaccurate when the dog is lying still,” Zhang Cheng mentioned. After utilizing the collar for one and a half months, the collar detected that the canine, which was sleeping on the couch, had a gradual coronary heart charge (beneath 60 beats per minute) and arrhythmia. These false alarms made Zhang Cheng exhausted. After utilizing the AI collar for 2 months, Zhang Cheng needed to take the canine to the hospital ten occasions, and each time the verify – up confirmed that every little thing was regular. “I can’t sleep well because of the anxiety this collar has brought me,” Zhang Cheng mentioned helplessly.

Zhang Cheng felt that he had been “cheated”, and he stuffed the collar right into a drawer.

A canine carrying a wise collar. Source: Visual China

While the well being detection perform could have some restricted reference worth, there are some much more absurd features which can be merely “IQ taxes”.

At the start of this yr, when DeepSeek grew to become extraordinarily standard, Lin Fang, who had by no means used an AI app earlier than, additionally joined the pattern. He observed an “AI dog language translator”. The developer claimed that it was linked to the DeepSeek massive – language mannequin and will use AI to acknowledge the canine’s feelings. Lin Fang could not wait to obtain it and provides it a attempt.

When Lin Fang’s canine, Chengzi, barked on the supply man, Lin Fang opened the app to file. The evaluation end result was “a guarding behavior is detected. It’s saying: ‘This is my territory. Leave quickly!'”. When Chengzi tugged at Lin Fang’s trouser leg and whined cutely, the AI evaluation mentioned “the owner should go out, and the dog wants to have fun”. This introduced Lin Fang a number of pleasure.

However, there appears to be solely a skinny line between AI’s recognition of canine barks and “random nonsense”. “As time passed, the AI started to give random responses,” Lin Fang mentioned. When he took a photograph of Chengzi yawning, the AI mentioned the canine seemed drained. When Chengzi was fortunately wagging its tail, the AI judged that the canine was overly excited and susceptible to stress. “These AI products can only be used as entertainment tools. Those who take them seriously will lose,” Lin Fang mentioned.

Zhang Cheng additionally discovered that along with the wrong indicator detection, essentially the most fundamental positioning perform of the AI collar he purchased was additionally poorly carried out.

One weekend, he took his canine to a suburban park. When the canine was having a good time operating round, the positioning level on the collar’s app disappeared for half an hour for no purpose after which briefly jumped one kilometer away. This significantly disillusioned Zhang Cheng.

“Even children’s smart watches can now achieve accurate positioning, make calls, and take photos, but this AI smart collar can’t even do that, let alone use AI to recognize the pet’s emotions,” Zhang Cheng added.

Lao Sun, who’s specializing in AI – primarily based emotion recognition entrepreneurship, instructed the Jingxiang Studio that there are technical difficulties in utilizing AI to acknowledge pets’ feelings, whether or not by sensors like collars or by tagging pets’ feelings primarily based on sure indicators.

Firstly, it’s troublesome for present sensors to penetrate the fur of cats and canine to gather info. Secondly, it is vitally difficult to label pets’ feelings. From the angle of animal conduct science, animals’ emotional expressions are completely different from the human emotional system. A canine wagging its tail could specific pleasure, nervousness, and even aggression, relatively than merely “happiness”. We don’t have any means of telling whether or not the detection is correct.

There are additionally credibility points with the so – referred to as AI well being warnings. Chen Yong, who has his personal stall in Huaqiangbei, instructed the Jingxiang Studio that there are lots of factories in Shenzhen specializing in the manufacturing of good pet {hardware}. For instance, a pet collar with an “AI smart” label, which has a manufacturing unit worth of 30 – 60 yuan, could be offered for a whole lot and even hundreds of yuan.

Many of those so – referred to as AI good options are simply “baits”. The AI well being experiences they supply are sometimes primarily based on just a few easy indicators, equivalent to an abnormally quick or gradual coronary heart charge, and don’t consider particular breeds and sophisticated conditions. Therefore, their reference worth is sort of restricted.

Young Pet Owners No Longer Trust AI

Zhu Ying put the three,000 – yuan AI good litter field up on the market on Xianyu at a 20% low cost of the acquisition worth. In the product description, she determined to inform the reality: “The camera function is intact. It’s suitable for those who like to watch live – streams of cats using the toilet.”

Surprisingly, there have been many personal messages from potential patrons, and their questions have been surprisingly constant: “Is the AI accurate?” “Can it really detect health problems?” Zhu Ying’s commonplace reply was, “It’s okay to use it as an ordinary litter box with a camera.” Usually, the opposite social gathering would then ship an emoji that appeared to say “I understand”.

After two months on Xianyu, the litter field nonetheless hadn’t been offered. Zhu Ying merely modified it and positioned it within the grass within the neighborhood for the stray cats she usually fed to make use of as a cat home.

After all these troubles, Zhu Ying discovered it arduous to belief merchandise with the “AI smart” label. She determined to take a extra laid – again strategy to cat – elevating, returning to essentially the most primitive means of usually cleansing the litter field when going to and getting back from work. As for her considerations concerning the cat’s abdomen issues, Zhu Ying now takes Doudou to the hospital for a verify – up each month to get extra skilled check experiences. She additionally purchased a digicam for lower than 100 yuan and put in it close to the litter field in order that she will be able to verify the footage anytime if Doudou has diarrhea or vomiting.

Zhu Ying’s new litter field, which solely prices a dozen yuan. Source: The interviewee

Zhang Cheng changed the AI collar with a “Xiaotiancai” youngsters’ good watch, which may precisely find the canine regardless of how far it runs when excited. Now, his canine – strolling tools has grow to be very simple: a sturdy leash and a worn – out rubber frisbee. Zhang Cheng discovered that to inform whether or not his canine is pleased, there is no want to have a look at the excellent indicators like coronary heart charge and physique temperature within the app. Just observing the amplitude of its tail – wagging and the place of its ears is sufficient. And to evaluate its well being, one of the simplest ways is to look at its urge for food, defecation, and the glint in its eyes, together with skilled verify – ups each two months.

To higher stop persistent ailments equivalent to joint