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In Korea, artificial intelligence is helping people find dog lookalikes.

The creators of the online service believe that this will help homeless dogs from the shelter find new owners.
В Корее искусственный интеллект помогает людям находить их собак-близнецов.

When we adopt a pet, we fulfill a certain need.

Photo: Shutterstock.

Last year, the dogs and cats of South Korea breathed a sigh of relief. The country's parliament, known as the Morning Freshness, officially banned the breeding of four-legged friends for slaughter and their consumption as meat. However, this victory for humanitarianism had a downside.

The dogs escaped the fate of ending up on the dinner table as a delicacy, but they now faced the prospect of being homeless. Statistics show that approximately 80,000 dogs become stray each year in South Korea. Ultimately, these strays end up in dog shelters, but not all of them manage to find a second family. The creators of the My Dog Twin project (translated as My Dog Twin) devised a way to connect the hearts of homeless dogs with their new owners using artificial intelligence. The trick is based on the well-known observation that dogs often resemble their owners. Some scientific studies explain this phenomenon by suggesting that people subconsciously choose companion dogs based on physical resemblance to themselves.

In Korea, artificial intelligence finds dog twins for people

Built on this principle, the My Dog Twin service operates. Potential dog owners upload a photo of themselves into the program, and then AI algorithms analyze images of hundreds of dogs from shelters to select the one that most closely resembles its potential owner. It is believed that such adorable resemblance gives the person a lower chance of resisting the temptation to "adopt" a shelter pet. The authors of the idea claim that this approach allows for an "instant emotional connection" between lonely hearts. The result, in the spirit of "find ten differences between our photos," can be shared on social media with just one click. Meanwhile, a small donation trickles into the dog shelter. In just two weeks, the service attracted 20,000 visitors. The number of those who took their furry doppelgangers home remains undisclosed. However, the news of this new altruistic application of AI has spread virally across the internet.

EXPERT OPINION

Do dogs really resemble their owners? What can explain this?

- When we adopt a pet, we fulfill a certain need, - explained Anastasia Nikolskaya, a zoo psychologist and Doctor of Psychological Sciences, a researcher at the Faculty of Psychology at Moscow State University, to “Komsomolskaya Pravda.” - A person faces the question: what do I want to achieve? Is it a friend, a child, or protection? Is it for hunting or a remedy for loneliness? Do I want someone to love me or do I want to love someone? For example, if I am fulfilling the need for a toy, I might acquire a dog as a fashionable accessory. I would give it a spa treatment, manicure, decorate it with rhinestones, buy beautiful outfits, and take it to cafes, and so on. When I describe such a toy dog, what image does its owner conjure up in your mind?

- Yes, it’s likely some glamorous lady.

- Depending on the personal need we are trying to fulfill, we choose our pet. It’s no surprise that a dog acquired for a specific function begins to resemble us in terms of appearance over time.