Visitors walk past a booth at the TOPS 2026 in Shanghai on May 8, 2026. Photo: VCG

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to penetrate consumer scenarios, the pet industry is undergoing a new round of intelligent upgrading. At the TOPS 2026 - short for The ONE Pet Show - held in Shanghai, intelligent pet care products emerged as a major highlight. A host of high-tech pet items made their debut, seamlessly integrating smart technology into daily pet parenting.

From smart feeding and health monitoring to emotional interaction, AI is reshaping and elevating the human-pet relationship, while also activating the huge consumption potential of the pet economy, a Chinese expert said.

Covering 100,000 square meters, the exhibition gathered more than 300 new products and more than 8,000 pet brands, becoming a window to showcase the latest achievements of the intelligent pet industry. A number of innovative AI pet products were unveiled, bringing new experiences to pet owners.

Petkit, a pet product company, launched its innovative smart water fountain ULTRA visual edition. With core functions such as separate clean and waste water, flowing spring water, 100 C boiling water cleaning, automatic flushing, washing and refilling, the product provides full-link protection for pets. At the same time equipped with a 140-degree ultra-wide-angle AI camera and multi-pet recognition technology, it monitors each pet's 24-hour drinking situation, establishes a unique data file for each pet, and allows real-time tracking of drinking data, making pet drinking healthier and more convenient, the Jiefang Daily reported.

Emotional interaction has become another key breakthrough in AI pet innovation. Vaboo, a pet health technology company released a smart pet collar equipped with an exclusive pet health AI large-language model. By accurately identifying and analyzing pets' sounds such as barks, whimpers and purrs, it can quickly translate pets' emotions and intentions into human-understandable language, covering more than 20 common emotions such as hunger, tiredness, eagerness to play and fear, the Jiemian News reported.

UCloudlink Group showcased an app that integrates its PetPhone and PetCam devices. With the PetPhone, pet owners can call their pets, and trained pets can trigger "calling owners" through specific actions, converting their needs into voice interactions. The PetCam is a lightweight device that pioneered pet's-eye-view shooting, allowing owners to observe the world from their pets' perspective, the Jiemian News reported.

According to data compiled by iiMedia Research, China's pet economy has been rising year by year, reaching 811.4 billion yuan ($119.31 billion) in 2025 with year-on-year growth of 15.7 percent, and is expected to exceed 1.15 trillion yuan by 2028.

The pet economy has grown rapidly in recent years. Driven by socioeconomic progress and improved living standards, rising demand for emotional fulfillment has become a core growth driver. As an important part of the emotional economy, the pet industry shows a clear long-term upward trend, Zhang Yi, CEO of the iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"There is vast untapped potential in refined, high-quality pet care across food, daily supplies, services and training. AI also has bright prospects in the pet industry. In particular, it enables human-pet interaction by recognizing pets' movements, expressions and sounds to read their emotions and intentions. AI will drive more innovative pet products and services, offering huge room for future growth," Zhang noted.