AI continues expanding footprint in pet economy

Two dogs ride in a pet stroller at the "K-Pet Fair" at SETEC in southern Seoul, March 22. Yonhap

On a hot summer day in 2024, a homemaker surnamed Choi stepped into a pet expo in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province — her first in more than 50 years of life.

An owner of two dogs, she was struck by the sheer range of products on display.

“I didn’t even know things like these existed. And I’ve never seen so many pet owners gathered in one place,” Choi said. “It was an eye-opening experience.”

Beyond familiar items like pet strollers and toys, she ended up filling her cart with more unusual purchases: sterilized milk for dogs, an ammonia odor remover for pet waste and a cooling pillow pad designed for pets.

Globally, the pet technology market, currently valued at $15.6 billion, is projected to reach $52.9 billion by 2035. In Korea, the number of pet owners stood at 15.46 million in 2024, accounting for roughly 30 percent of the population, according to a KB Financial Group report.

And as pet ownership rises, the pet economy, increasingly powered by artificial intelligence (AI), is evolving at pace.

In the last few years, AI has emerged as a particularly notable force in pet health care.

PetpeoTalk’s “Dogibogi,” for instance, uses AI to track pet behavior and flag anomalies, such as changes in activity levels or barking patterns, allowing owners to monitor their pets’ health from home.

Meanwhile, “Bespoke U” is experimenting with hyperpersonalized nutrition. By feeding an individual pet’s health data into AI algorithms, the service generates tailored meal plans from nearly 150,000 possible recipe combinations. Each order is then prepared and delivered as customized pet food.

An artificial intelligence-generated image of a Shih Tzu on an office desk / Courtesy of Carat

New frontier: Content production

More recently, the technology has begun to reshape a more unexpected corner of the pet economy: content creation.

Advances in generative AI now allow users to create highly realistic photos and videos of their pets, turning them into the stars of customized digital content. Among people in their 20s and 30s, these platforms and tools have quickly gained traction.

Traditionally, shooting concept photos in a studio could cost hundreds of dollars and required a cooperative pet. With AI, however, users can generate high-resolution images in any mood or setting within seconds. That accessibility has become a major draw.

Another appeal lies in the ability to stage the impossible. AI can create poses and scenarios that would be difficult, or entirely unfeasible, in real life. On video-generating platforms such as Kling AI and Wenit, pet owners are producing clips of their dogs and cats standing on two legs and swaying in rhythm, with movements rendered in surprisingly natural detail.

Such “dance challenge” videos — like puppies grooving to the AI-generated track “Who wants to buy me some Dubai chewy cookies?” — have racked up hundreds of thousands, even millions of views across social media.

Elsewhere, a growing number of platforms, including Ably, Snow and Petman AI, now offer concept filters that place pets in scenes both ordinary and absurd: baking viral desserts, taking mirror selfies or dressed in hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) to deliver Lunar New Year greetings. Some even reimagine what the animals might look like in human form.

"Kim Hamzzi," a virtual pet influencer that garnered more than 700,000 YouTube subscribers in less than six months / Captured from @anx_hamzzikim YouTube channel

And from this swelling tide of content, a new kind of digital persona is emerging: the virtual pet influencer. These influencers are built around AI-generated animals, often paired with human voiceovers, that speak, dress and behave like people.

One standout example is “Kim Hamzzi,” a virtual hamster portrayed as an ordinary office worker at a design firm. By capturing the quiet struggles and small, familiar moments of a young professional in their 30s, the character has struck a chord with viewers.

Comments reflect that sense of identification. “Kim Hamzzi, I’m rooting for you. Watching you grow makes me feel like I can succeed too,” one user wrote.

Another wrote: “Whoever runs this channel definitely lived through office life. I know that feeling. You try so hard, you’re doing your best, but somehow you end up feeling like the bad person. Like you’re just focused on your work, but everything else around you falls apart.”

In less than six months, the YouTube channel surpassed 700,000 subscribers and began landing major brand collaborations, marking its arrival as a new player in the influencer economy.