A man from Amesbury has made a pet video using AI, to help increase awareness for animals at Christmas and spread some festive cheer.

Russ Billington, 70, recently moved to Amesbury from Porton, and had a long career as a graphic designer. Before retiring, Russ worked on many different projects including holograms for DVD menu screens, Ordnance Survey maps and photopolymer stamps.

Russ said that he wanted to try using artificial intelligence for himself after hearing and reading of the concerns many had with the technology. He added that pets were just not for Christmas, adding that many animals still suffer over the festive period.

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As a result, he used the technology to create some great images of cats and dogs, donning a range of Christmas gear and compiling the results into a short video.

Russ said: "It's quite a cliche we hear but many animals are still sadly abandoned or given up over Christmas for a variety of reasons, some of which are not always the owner's fault. I wanted to create something which highlighted this and made it a bit more light-hearted and festive.

"Charities such as the RSPCA and Dogs Trust do an amazing job, and I'm a big animal lover, so like to see animals living life and living well.

"If the video makes someone smile at Christmas, then it was worth doing."

You can watch Russ' video on his Youtube channel, which is linked here.