Meet the ‘Desert Summit Hound,’ an AI-generated state dog for Utah

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah has a state emblem, state bird, state flower, state insect and even a state crustacean.

Still, only 13 states in the nation have a designated state dog — with Maryland leading the charge in 1964 when it named the Chesapeake Bay Retriever as one of its state symbols.

So, if Utah had a state dog, what kind would it be and what would it symbolize?

Artificial intelligence — at least how we think of it today — wasn’t a popular or widely-used technology in 1964 when Maryland named its state dog. But now, generative AI is being used to imagine and create all sorts of things, including a hypothetical list of state dogs for all 50 states.

Pet information website, PetLab Co., recently harnessed the power of generative AI to create a list, with each dog representing a specific state. The design of each image was inspired by the state’s history, culture, geography and wildlife, according to a press release.

This could leave many options for Utah, a geographically diverse state with an abundance of wildlife. But at the end of the day, AI decided that the “Desert Summit Hound” fits the bill as Utah’s state dog.

While this isn’t an official breed, the AI-generated image shows a Bernese Mountain Dog elegantly perched on a rock in a high-alpine environment, surrounded by jagged peaks, a river and an expansive sky that encapsulates so much of what Utahns love about the state.

“We used an AI image generator to reveal what a dog breed would look like inspired by each state. Each dog feels like a great homage to their namesake and illustrates the individuality of each,” said a spokesperson from PetLab Co.

Among other notable AI-generated state dogs is New York’s “Liberty Bagel Stealer,” which is a Pomeranian carrying baked goods; Indiana’s “Hoosier Bat Terrier,” a terrier with … bat wings?

Arizona, in this imagining, is home to the “Desert Sun Hound,” a dog with a tribal-print dyed coat. Somewhat disturbingly, Idaho’s dog — the “Pomo-Spud,” is a dog that has potato slices in place of a fur coat.

“Surprisingly, many of the dogs AI created look like medium to large breeds, with only a few of the states represented by small dogs. This doesn’t seem to correlate to the geographic scale of each area, as Texas’ pup is among the smallest created,” the spokesperson said.

If your curiosity is getting the best of you, all 50 AI-generated dogs can be found here.

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