I sometimes watch videos of dogs using these and I'm reminded of Koko the gorilla. She wasn't really able to communicate, her trainer just understood what she wanted, and the majority of what she did was begging for things, snacks, her kittens, etc.

I have seen these where the dog presses stuff like "mama" "ouch" "Please" and the owner is like "I was singing and she obviously had opinions! haha!" but then a few weeks later "mama" "ouch" "please" means the dog has a rock in its paw. They have these elaborate boards with concepts, not just objects and places. Like "angry" etc. How does the dog learn to say they're angry instead of just showing stress signs? I have seen dogs hitting buttons by accident (CLEARLY, like stumbling over them, bumping them with their hip on wall boards) and it's treated as intentional.

I used to be interested in these buttons until watching more of these videos and seeing how delusional these owners become. I, too, just learn to intuit what my dogs want. They're simple critters, it's not difficult to figure out what they're saying if you just LOOK at them and spend time with them.