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Find out what dog you look like with Microsoft's new Fetch! app
The new app has been taking social media by storm
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Fetch!, a strange single-use app which claims to be able to tell you what kind of dog you look like, is taking social media by storm.
The app scans images uploaded by users, and through the magic of technology manages to determine what kind of dogs are present in them - obviously, it works fairly well on pictures of canines, but it really comes into its own when you upload human faces.
Just like last year's Microsoft app which could detect how old you were from a picture, the app has really taken off on Twitter, where users have been fervently sharing their results.
The app also gives a short list of characteristics for each dog breed, which are often fairly accurate.
According to Fetch!, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is a "smart," "feisty" and "vocal" minature schnauzer.
Jeremy Hunt, health secretary and nemesis of junior doctors everywhere is apparently an "independent-minded, willful" siberian husky who can "run all day."
Justin Bieber is a "bossy but charming" minature pinscher.
Kanye West is a "smart, athletic and independent-minded" dutch shepherd dog.
And Boris Johnson is a pekingese with an "imperial mind-set" and a "surprisingly strong body" - we couldn't possibly comment on that last part.
The app is obviously just a bit of fun, but there's some interesting and important tech behind it - the app uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to make its decisions.
While developing Fetch!, the creators gave the app thousands of images of different breeds, allowing the program to 'learn' the unique characteristics and qualities on the face of each dog.
It's something humans do automatically, but it's a huge challenge for a machine - Fetch! might be good for generating laughs now, but in the decades to come, artificially intelligent programs which can assess the world as we do could radically change almost everything.
Fetch! is available for free on Apple's App Store, but you can also use it on all platforms by going to What-Dog.net.
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