Mayumi Kitakata frets about the health and wellbeing of Chi, her stoic housemate who enjoys treats, indulges a bit too much in the catnip, and about 14 is getting on in years for a feline.
Kitakata, 57, has had pet cats come and go over the years, and to help give Chi as many seasons as possible, she's turned to artificial intelligence.
In March, Kitakata became an early adopter of CatsMe!, an AI-driven app that purports to tell when a cat is feeling pain. That cuts down on the guesswork of when it is necessary to embark on a stressful trip to the veterinarian.
Tech startup Carelogy and researchers at Nihon University developed CatsMe! by training it on 6,000 pictures of cats, and the app has been used by more than 230,000 customers since its launch last year. The developers say it is more than 95 percent accurate and expect that degree to improve as the AI trains on more feline faces.
Kitakata and Chi live in a central Tokyo apartment. She monitors Chi's toilet activity and uses the app to read its face each day.
"He is at an age where more and more diseases are going to appear," said Kitakata.
"So being able to consult the vet but still reduce the number of visits to the hospital is very important for him and for me."
