From Katzenworld and the Spectator we have pieces on the use of AI technology not just to entertain cats, but also to determine whether it makes them happy. Click the headlines to read:
From the Spectator (archived):
Spectator, an excerpt:
There’s a dystopic feel, too, to the futurist utopia imagined in artist collective Blast Theory’s film ‘Cat Royale’. The guinea pigs in this experiment in robotic pet-sitting are three cats, Ghostbuster, Pumpkin and Clover, filmed over several days being fed and entertained in a brightly coloured play environment by an AI robot arm. The arm puts down food, dangles strings, rolls balls and drags a blanket around. The string acts on the cats like catnip – they look seriously overstimulated – but the Small Dimpled Ball Ramp Roll game leaves Clover cold, lowering her happiness score by 1 per cent. My sympathies were with Pumpkin, whose happiness scores remained stubbornly low. Amusing as it is to watch, it’s not funny to think that similar systems of measurement are used on us.
Katzenworld:
The premise (from Katzenworld):
New installation from provocative UK artist group, Blast Theory, asks if AI can make us – and our pets – truly happy
Never-before seen footage of cats interacting with an AI-powered robot arm has been unveiled this week as part of a groundbreaking new project.
Blast Theory’s art installation Cat Royale, which launched on March 22, sees three cats – Clover, Pumpkin and Ghostbuster – go into a specially-built feline ‘utopia’ at the Blast Theory studio for six hours a day over the 12-day project, where they have space to relax, play and explore.
During their daily visit to the utopia, the cats are supervised by a Cat Welfare Officer, and entertained by a robotic arm. At the centre of the installation is a robotic arm, which uses AI to learn what games and snacks the cats like. The robotic arm offers treats, throws a ball, dangles a feather, jingles a bell, or offers a massage depending on how the cats interact with it.
And a computer vision system measures the happiness of the cats as they play with the robot arm, in an attempt to learn how to make them happier. The system then uses this learning to suggest new activities for the robotic arm to try.
Eight cameras capture the cats’ every movement. Audiences across the world can catch up with daily highlights from inside Cat Royale, released at 8pm GMT every day throughout the project on the Blast Theory website.
In episode 1, the cats can be seen responding enthusiastically to the robot arm’s offer of treats, while the narrator poses the unsettling question, “Is it best if the AI learns that they love snacks, and offers more and more of them?”
Cat Royale is also being streamed daily to the World Science Festival in Brisbane, Australia between 22 March to 2 April, before touring to Science Gallery London and Wales Millennium Centre in the UK later this year.
This is the latest project from Blast Theory artists Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr and Nick Tandavanitj, who are renowned for creating artwork that puts the public at the centre of unusual and sometimes unsettling experiences, to create new perspectives and open up the possibility of change.
If you’re worried about the welfare of of the moggies (I love their names):
The Animal Welfare and Ethics Review Body at the University of Nottingham and animal behaviourists from the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) are consulting with Blast Theory throughout the project to ensure the safety, wellbeing and care of Pumpkin, Clover and Ghostbuster.
Here’s Day 1 (the whole 12-day site is here); there are 30 toys and 60 games to entertain the cats.
This is the twelfth and last day of Cat Royale. Do they look happier? I think they need humans! I suppose you could use this as a catsitter if you go away for a short time and provide a litterbox, but let’s see what happens at the end of the study. There’s a grandiose bit at the end about how this applies to humans and their desire for experience and instant gratification. Oy!
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If you have a Senior Cat, you’ll be interested in this article from Bored Panda (click to read):
An excerpt:
The current life span for cats is about 15 years, and everyone agrees that’s not enough. Japanese scientist Dr. [Toru] Miyazaki is of the same opinion and decided to work hard on creating a miracle – prolonging the lives of our beloved furry companions. Looks like he succeeded and his solution could potentially double cats’ life span!
. . .Dr. Miyazaki’s breakthrough comes in the form of the “AIM” injection. It’s a medication that has demonstrated an astounding potential to help kitties suffering from chronic kidney disease. The scientist and his team pinpointed the root cause of this treacherous ailment, which paved the way for the development of the injection. Cat owners rejoice!
But how long do we have to wait? The “AIM” injection is currently in the clinical trial phase and is anticipated to be available by 2025. The latest trial results have showed a level of efficacy that has exceeded all expectations and has the potential to revolutionize feline healthcare. Even poor cats who were deemed to have only a week left showed remarkable improvements after receiving an injection.
This medication is unique as it as has the potential not only to treat but also prevent chronic kidney disease, extending not only feline companions’ lifespan but also their quality of life. Imagine a world where cats can enjoy longer and healthier lives, staying with us for decades. It will be a better place for sure.
. . .That’s not all of the good news. Dr. Miyazaki is determined to make this life-saving medication accessible to all. They plan to lower the medication’s price to ensure that every pet owner can afford it. It shows the genuine love and care the researchers have for these wonderful animals. No one should ever choose between food or medication for their best friend and these brilliant scientists are there to ensure that.
Not only do the scientists work hard to help beloved pets, but also regular people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the funding for this study came to a halt. They reached out to numerous platforms and soon people started donating to the cause with heartfelt messages and well wishes. So basically, this medication was made with love and it is a well-known fact that if you do something with love, it works 10 times better.
. . . The future looks promising and hopefully soon we will be able to grow old with our beloved pets and be grey together. Thanks to the brilliance and big hearts of these scientists, many of us will have numerous more years of half-eaten mice on the porch, furballs and incredible love from our furry companions.
Does it work? Many cats die from chronic kidney disease (CKD), and I found one Nature paper suggesting that feline AIM supplementation might cats recover from kidney injury or CKG (AIM is the name given to feline apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage, which seems to become inactive during kidney disease). A publicity article from the University of Tokyo says the same thing, but adds that AIM could help with other cat diseases:
Since returning to the University of Tokyo in 2006, Miyazaki shifted his research towards all kinds of illnesses with a focus on AIM, and has published a number of papers demonstrating how AIM responds to obesity, liver cancer, type 2 diabetes and chronic peritonitis. In 2016, his paper clarifying AIM’s involvement in cats’ kidney disease was published in Nature Medicine. Kidney disease is caused by dead cells piling up in the urinary tract that eventually block off the passageway, much like a clogged up drain pipe, leading to kidney damage. Miyazaki describes AIM as a sort of agent serving to unclog the pipe.
As for humans, the publicity paper adds this:
Miyazaki says he likes cats, but what drives him the most is his determination to meet the high expectations of cat owners. He also goes on to speak about a dear friend he lost during his medical intern days due to a terminal illness, and that she was a cat lover too.
“I believe that perhaps my friend is one of the reasons why I was destined to save cats – I wouldn’t have ever imagined myself focusing on cats otherwise. In reality, however, I have witnessed many people passing away due to incurable illnesses, so I feel strongly about eventually using AIM to treat people. That is the greatest motivation that is supporting my research right now.”
So, ask your vet in a year or two. Miyazaki has already helped produce a cat and a kitten food supplemented with AIM protein, but I haven’t seen controlled blind testing showing that this cat food helps with feline longevity.
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A scary story from the Washington Post (click to read):
The tail:
“I was racing next to the car, banging on the windows and shouting, but he just sped up and took off,” said Pandey, 23, recalling the stressful afternoon of Sept. 30.
“I just stood there in shock for a couple of minutes, wondering what to do,” Pandey said.
Pandey called the driver several times and messaged him on the Lyft app telling him he wanted his cat back, he said.
About two hours later, the driver responded through the app, Pandey said, telling him, “I don’t have anything of yours,” and “She isn’t there sorry.”
Here’s Tux:
Here’s part of the text messaging between driver and frantic owner in which the driver says, “Nope, I have no cat”:
The staff posted a frantic message on reddit and Twitter (“X”) to try to find the cat:
As sometimes happens, the whole world became concerned about Tux (a tuxedo cat) after the message became viral:
People from around the world became invested in his story and wanted to help Pandey reunite with the black-and-white tuxedo cat he’d rescued as a kitten, he said.
“I’m in Europe and kept waking up at night to see if you posted any updates,” wrote one user.
“Do you know the drivers name or plate number?!? I can find all of their info,” wrote another.
“Facebook and ask people to share on Nextdoor Email local vets with a photo Visit the shelter in person Local news Posters with text large enough to be read by passing cars,” wrote someone else.
Comments started snowballing on social media, and people in Austin contacted local television station KVUE about Pandey’s situation, leading to a story.
Pandey said he worked around the clock, following up on social media leads and advice, hoping to get Tux back. He works as a software engineer in Austin, and said he’s always enjoyed coming home to find Tux waiting to be petted and fed.
The Lyft driver wasn’t much help, saying that if he’d know he’d be carrying a cat, he wouldn’t have picked him up, as the driver was allergic to cats. (What a jerk! He took a man with a carrier to a cat hospital and didn’t know what was up??). Lyft offered Pandy a measly $20 for his loss (what a bunch of jerks!).
Finally, though, social media pressure got Lyft to do something, and Tux was finally found—without his carrier!
Lyft sent out a notification to the company’s drivers and riders on a Lyft blog and on social media asking for help finding Tux. The post requested that people share “lost cat” fliers with Tux’s face, and described her as wearing a heart-shaped medallion with her name on it around her neck.
Lyft also deployed investigators to the area to look for Tux.
On Sunday, one of those investigators spotted Tux cowering beneath a stairwell outside a real estate company’s office, about a mile from where Pandey had been dropped off the day before. The cat carrier was nowhere to be found.
The investigator reunited Tux and Pandey.
“Tux was hungry and scared and covered in fleas, but she was really happy to see me,” Pandey said. “I was just so grateful, I just hugged her and cried.”
Pandy and his beloved Tux:
Tux was taken back to the vet, but whatever ailment she had was gone. Lyft is paying the vet bills, as it should, but it’s still a mystery how the cat got out. Someone surely let the cat out of the carrier and the carrier is gone. The police are still investigating (a cat is a valuable family member!) The driver should be fired! At any rate, all ended well, but if I had a cat I’d be sure to tell the driver if I were taking it in an Uber or Lyft vehicle.
Pandey said he hopes the company will take steps to ensure no other pet owner goes through what he did.
“If not for all the people who stopped what they were doing to help me out, I have to wonder if I’d have my cat back,” he said.
“It’s restored my faith in people.”
h/t: Debra, Ginger K.
Don’t tell George about the 15 years… he is still going strong at 23 going on 24, though his joints are rickety and his thyroid is out of whack!
Our dear old tabby cat Dinah was diagnosed with kidney disease and hypertension at age 17. Here in the U.K., there’s a drug called Fortekor which is used to treat both conditions, and it gave Dinah three more years of quality life. Alas, it’s not available in the U.S. I wish Dr Miyazaki every success with his new drug.
Our most recent cat, Tobi (ז״ל), died of chronic kidney disease. For several years we kept her going with a special diet and frequent injections of subcutaneous fluids. She was 19.
Thanks for today’s Trifecta. The story about Tux is shocking – what the hell was the driver playing at?!
I’m trying to figure WTF Lyft were up to. Surely part of the point of these “ride sharing” (not “taxi” – because that implies some degree of employment law being active) app is that the users account and the driver’s account are unambiguously linked through the “ride number”. Or is that all smoke and mirrors, and Lyft don’t, in fact, have the infrastructure to make significant investigation into such a case – and other general “lost property” or “your employee raped me in a ride your company arranged” investigations (not that, in America, there is any element of employment in such companies ; I believe the EU is legislating to ensure that EU operations retain the legal structures of employment).
There’s something suspicious going on there, and Lyft have thrown lots of light into this dark corner of this business by their inaction.
The art project reminded me of the Harlow experiment with baby monkeys and terrycloth surrogate mothers. I think we already know that cats will want to play with their own humans more than they will want to play string with a robot arm.
3 out of 3 of the cats I have had in the last 20 years developed kidney disease. My remaining old girl is 19 and it has gotten worse recently. We kept our cats alive longer by giving them sub q fluids. One lived 5 years after diagnosis and died of cancer. A cure or prevention for CKD would be fantastic.
Yes! Those (1950’s?) behaviour experiments came into my mind right away too! The cat palace looks like a total bore; not very stimulating at all.
“sub q” ??
I’m guessing this is some indicator of osmolytic strength. But why not just plain water? That’s what they’ve evolved with.
Remember Kadyrov’s cat? John Oliver told the story on his show ofof how his cat ( a tiger or some small wild feline)was missing and Kadyrov send out text messages all over the world asking people to help find his cat. So Oliver devoted that program to asking everyone to send telegrams to Kadyrov if they saw his cat. One of the funniest shows ever…I imagine Kadyrov must have gotten thousands if not tens of thousands of telegrams.(Kadyrov is the autocrat who runs Chechnya).