That could be.

Videos of this duo get posted a lot. IIRC, the zoo had a lonely lynx cub and they got it a stray cat as a companion, and now the lynx is grown and they're BFFs. Like how zoos that have 1 cheetah will get it a golden retriever for companionship.

I've watched a lot of those videos, and it seems to me that the animals are trying to communicate what they want using the buttons, and seem to understand that there's some message being communicated when they press the button. I doubt they understand sentence structure - it seems more like a toddler's understanding of language at best. Think about a human toddler going "want up!" Or "Dada, juice!". But that's still pretty impressive, I think. I've been thinking about getting some, since one of my cats will stand next to the cart of cat supplies and just yell at me until I figure out by trial and error if he wants catnip, brushies, a toy, etc. If he could press a button to tell me what he wants, that would be better for both of us lol.

I saw a YouTube channel of someone training their cat to press buttons with messages recorded on them (there are a bunch of YouTube channels of people who do this with cats and dogs, with various success), and they had a video montage of their cat pressing the "treat" button all day and night to demand food lol.