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Mina Park was a software developer, and she had built a phone app that claimed it could translate cat sounds into human language. One evening, she decided to test it on her cat Leo in the kitchen of her apartment. Leo made a sound, and the app showed a translation on Mina's screen.
The first translation was a complaint that Leo's food bowl was too empty. Mina saw Leo react as if the words were exactly right, so she knew the app was not just producing random results. She felt excited and surprised, because it seemed to work.
Mina asked Leo another question through the app and expected something simple back. Instead, the translation showed that he understood more than food. He wanted the window open and the room quiet, which told Mina that he noticed the apartment around him and had clear preferences about it.
Before she told anyone else, Mina decided to test the app one more time. This time Leo's translation said that he disliked being treated like a baby and wanted humans to listen more carefully. Mina then understood that the app might reveal real thoughts, not just cute pet noises.