AI stories usually highlight either efficiency and productivity tools or over-the-top spectacle, like AI-generated movies that are designed to look completely real.

In between though, there are plenty of ways people use AI for wholesome activities, cute trends (that aren't directly infringing on someone's art style) or using it for building connections and even inspiring people.

Here I've picked out a few of my favorite heartwarming AI trends and examples below, some of which you can try for yourself.

1. Dogs into people

I won't deny that this story also gives me a chance to show off pictures of my dog Cabbage (that's her on the right), but I genuinely find the trend where people upload photos of their pets and ask AI tools to turn them into their human form very endearing.

It may not always reflect how someone sees their animal companion, but it can be very amusing. I tried it out with Cabbage, the black and gold chihuahua, using a photo of her and my in-laws' pet Cavapoo, Tushy (what happens when you let a three-year-old name a new pet).

You can use a relatively simple prompt for this, like "Turn my dog into a human", or you can specify more details if you want a specific results, like "She's a 3-year old female dog who is naturally curious".

Asking ChatGPT to turn them into people perfectly captured Cabbage's mood when she is being chased and his puppyish adoration for her. It even got her harness and his neckerchief and turned them into appropriate clothing.

2. Pet chefs

Of course, you may not want to make your pet into a human, and that's okay.

You can just set them to work in the kitchen with this fun trend i discovered on TikTok, where people are making a whole set of portraits of their pets in the kitchen performing various tasks.

Just upload a photo of your pet (or any animal) and ask your favorite AI image creator to: "Please make a photo shoot of this exact dog doing different activities in the kitchen. Make it photo-realistic, as if it were done by a photographer."

You don't have to limit it to kitchen tasks, but it's amazing how good AI has become at inserting animals into all kinds of situations while still maintaining continuity of what the pet looks like.

3. Students seeing their future

In a Houston elementary school, a teacher took photos of each student and asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Then she fed the answers and images into an AI image generator and turned each child into their future self, showing them as a doctor, a firefighter, a chef, a pilot, and more.

This reportedly led to a lot of excitement and inspired the kids to see a "real" vision of their future.

You can try it out too with a picture of your kid (or yourself as a kid). I did with an old photo of me and asked ChatGPT to "Transform this image into an adult version of an astronaut, keep the same physical characteristics."

Not precisely what I look like, but surprisingly close, and the astronaut getup is fantastic.The trend has been repeated in other schools all around the world:

4. AI-assisted inter-generational relationships

This one warmed my heart without needing any animals. A startup called Eldera that pairs older adults, many of whom are isolated or living alone, with children for regular video calls in an effort to reduce loneliness.

Think pen pals, but with Zoom. The whole thing is AI-supported. AI helps match pairs after they fill out questionnaires and monitors conversations in case of anything untoward coming up in conversation. And it's built into the platform for use by both participants.

It can suggest conversational prompts, draw images of stories they tell each other, and more. Plus, for the older participant, the AI in the system compiles a “Wisdom Portrait,” a kind of digital scrapbook with quotes, drawings, and audio snippets from the chat.

5. Human-dog switcheroo

I had to end with one more dog trend. This time, adding to the idea of making a dog human by making a human a dog. My wife and puppy transformed (upon request) into an AI image-maker, and you can see they are still cute, regardless of species.

You might also like