Experts warn that turning real people into AI pets could face legal risks and violate portrait rights
AI desktop pets are gaining popularity in China, offering young workers an outlet for workplace frustration and providing bereaved owners with a digital means to preserve memories of their deceased pets.
Virtual pets first emerged on messaging platforms in the early 2000s, roaming across screens and interacting with users as they browsed the web, chatted, or watched videos.
Advancements in AI are evolving virtual pets from simple digital novelties into more responsive forms of emotional companionship. Unlike traditional desktop pets limited to preset behaviours, these new iterations can be customised in both appearance and responses.
Users can upload images and input prompts into an AI application to create a personalised pet. Those less familiar with the technology may pay anywhere from 9.9 yuan (US$1.5) to several hundred yuan for customisation services.
In early August, an internet user known as Jiuyuechushi created an AI desktop pet modelled after Elon Musk to illustrate how bosses could easily be transformed into virtual companions.
This AI pet can kowtow, slap itself, and perform tasks such as serving tea. It can be configured to appear as if it struggles when dragged by a mouse and clambers along the edges of web pages.
Another online user, called “Miss Reese Loves to Dream,” shared a tutorial showing how she turned a person she disliked into a virtual pet that crawls across the screen, kneels, and says: “I was wrong.”