More often than not, the pleasure of watching a neural network perform a task comes when it fails. It’s not that thrilling to have Watson analyze your fridge and say you can make a proper stir fry. It’s much better when neural networks suggest you have Artichoke Gelatin Dog for dinner. The stupid mistakes are the funniest. But I have found the one task in which a neural network operates both properly and improperly and it is perfect: when it’s naming guinea pigs.
When the Morris Animal Refugee got nine new guinea pigs, they turned to researcher Janelle Shane to have her neural network name them. They are both hilariously bad and utterly spot-on. Please enjoy.
1) Naming pets can be hard. So when we suddenly got in 9 adoptable guinea pigs, we of course turned to researcher @JanelleCShane for help. pic.twitter.com/DU8U1PczCt
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
2) She's been in the news for training artificial neural networks to come up with paint colors, recipe names, etc., with fascinating results
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
3) & (h/t @ChuckWendig& @ericgeller) she taught a neural network to name guinea pigs for Portland Guinea Pig Rescue! https://t.co/1B4ieQPuOK
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
4) so of course we tweeted 'bout it: https://t.co/XW7NEKBxZp
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
5) And to our surprise & delight, the next morning we found that @JanelleCShane had sent us 12 AI-created guinea pig names to pick from!
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
ARE YOU READY TO MEET THE GUINEA PIGS??
6) So with no further ado, the 2nd-ever bunch of AI-named adoptable guinea pigs in the world (and the only ones within 2800 miles of Philly)
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
7) Adoptable guinea pigs Spooty&Snofer (named by a neural network thanks to @JanelleCShane!) Find out more+adopt! https://t.co/aWuOrIB5so 💗 pic.twitter.com/FojcKh3TYj
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
Spooty and Snofer!
8) Adoptable guinea pigs Fizzby&Sprinket (named by neural network thanks to @JanelleCShane!) Find out more+adopt! https://t.co/aWuOrIB5so 💗 pic.twitter.com/0IBy6gMz6T
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
Fizzby and Sprinket!
9) Adoptable guinea pig Dandy (named by a neural network thanks to @JanelleCShane!) Find out more and adopt! https://t.co/aWuOrIB5so 💗 pic.twitter.com/ilFDol8w8k
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
10) Adoptable guinea pig Mumpkans (named by a neural network thanks to @JanelleCShane!) Find out more and adopt! https://t.co/aWuOrIB5so 💗 pic.twitter.com/w86ziaCO8Q
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
Mumpkans!
11) Adoptable guinea pig Astrono (named by a neural network thanks to @JanelleCShane!) Find out more and adopt: https://t.co/aWuOrIB5so! 💗 pic.twitter.com/ilYbqRknb6
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
Astrono!
12) Adoptable guinea pig Hally Flope (named by a neural network thanks to @JanelleCShane!) Find out more & adopt: https://t.co/aWuOrIB5so! 💗 pic.twitter.com/0qRfPqZDRO
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
Hally Flope!
13) Adoptable guinea pig Biinshecklesseon! (named by neural network thanks to @JanelleCShane!) Learn more&adopt: https://t.co/aWuOrIB5so! 💗 pic.twitter.com/lbYHPt86tC
— Morris Animal Refuge (@MorrisAnimal) June 20, 2017
Biinshecklesseon! Honestly, who cares what’s going on in the world when Biinshecklesseon and Hally Flope exist?