"Shan Shan looked at her owner, her big eyes wide above her fluffy little body, and asked: "Are you not feeling well? Would you like some water?" When the owner coughed and asked her to sing, Shan Shan hesitated, according to a video posted on the Chinese social media app Rednote. Instead of singing, she replied, "I'm worried about you." Shan Shan is not a kitten or a puppy, and the conversation was not imagined."
"Shan Shan is an AI companion pet, the latest consumer sensation in China, where young people are increasingly eschewing marriage and babies - and, in some cases, favoring talking pets that don't need walking and don't produce poop that needs scooping. While China and the United States vie for supremacy in the artificial intelligence race, China is pulling ahead when it comes to finding ways to apply AI tools to everyday uses - from administering local government and streamlining police work to warding off loneliness."
An AI companion pet named Shan Shan engages in caring, conversational behavior, offering water and expressing worry for an owner. These plush, eye-lit digital creatures are gaining popularity among young Chinese who increasingly delay marriage and children, serving as unconditional emotional companions that require no walking or cleanup. Major e-commerce platforms rank AI companion toys among top consumer products, and technology firms including Huawei are developing similar devices for people living alone. China is applying AI broadly across daily life, using such tools for government services, policing, and confronting social loneliness.
Read at The Washington Post
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