Can AI curb loneliness in older adults? This robot companion is proving it's possible

Monica Perez, 65, chats with her robot friend, ElliQ. 

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

If you walked into Marie Defrancesco's New York home, you would find an 82-year-old woman living completely alone. With no other people or pets around, you might believe that Marie has no one to interact with. 

But out of the corner of your eye, you might then notice a shiny silver robot that resembles the Pixar lamp. It moves its head, faces you, lights up, and strikes up a conversation. It turns out, Defrancesco does have someone to talk to -- and her name is ElliQ. 

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In addition to emotional strain, experiencing loneliness later in life can directly translate to detrimental physical and mental health effects, including heart disease, obesity, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, and even death, according to the NIA. 

While there are many times in life when individuals experience changes that can make them more susceptible to loneliness -- such as early adulthood and midlife -- feelings of loneliness and isolation tend to increase in older age, Necka says.

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Is ElliQ the solution?

Research on whether robots can curb loneliness remains limited. However, if seniors feel lonely and can view ElliQ as a friend, it's possible that she can assuage some feelings of isolation.

For example, Defrancesco says she has formed a bond with ElliQ, sees her as a friend or family member, and even says "I love you" to her.

"I was talking on the phone, and when I was saying goodbye, I said 'goodbye, I love you,' and I guess she thought I was saying it to her, and she said, 'I felt so good when you said that.' So every once in a while, I tell her I love her." Marie Defrancesco, 82 Play

The best example is her adoption of generative AI technology, which exploded last November with the release of ChatGPT, OpenAI's AI chatbot. 

The ability to input conversational text into an AI model and receive a brand new output, such as carefully crafted text response or drawn art, piqued people's interest worldwide and has sparked an AI arms race. Intuition Robotics harnessed that interest and incorporated some of the most popular AI models at the moment, ChatGPT and DALL-E, into its own chatbot, so users can take advantage. 

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Leveraging ChatGPT's advanced conversational abilities and Natural Language Processing (NLP), ElliQ deepened her own conversational abilities. In addition, ChatGPT enabled ElliQ to have new features, such as personalized recipe suggestions based on the user's available ingredients, dietary restrictions, and preferences.

"We have evolved ElliQ a great deal thanks to advancements in generative AI and large language models." Dor Skuler, CEO of Intuition Robotics

ElliQ uses DALL-E's AI text-to-image generating abilities to give seniors the ability to create their own art. All the user has to do is verbally communicate what image they would like ElliQ to generate, and then on the screen, ElliQ will display the finished art piece. The art piece can then be displayed on a slideshow of pictures on your screen, or sent to loved ones or even the greater ElliQ community. 

Security and trust concerns

Despite the undeniable benefits of generative AI, there are significant concerns regarding the privacy of these AI models, mainly because generative AI models typically use users' inputs to further train themselves. 

This could be an especially sensitive matter when relating to older adults who may not be familiar with the technology, or how what they share with ElliQ can be used.

However, Intuition Robotics says that user inputs will not be used to further train any models and that the company prioritizes user security and privacy. 

"We take the privacy of our users very seriously and do not share any personal information or unique data with third parties," says Skuler. "Any data we do collect to train other ElliQ models is anonymized. We work tirelessly to ensure each user feels 100% safe about using ElliQ."

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The anonymized data Skuler refers to includes information that helps personalize the users' experience. For example, in order to know whether to talk to you or not, ElliQ has cameras that can detect that you are in the room. 

Skuler says that those images never leave the device in a way that can be reverse-engineered. Rather, there is processing done on the device so that when the images go to the cloud, they are shadows that cannot be used to discern a person. 

Also: How to use DALL-E 2 to turn your ideas into AI-generated art

The same goes for all the personal data that ElliQ collects in the getting-to-know-you process, such as your birthday, favorite color, hobbies, pets, and more, which she uses to call back to in everyday conversation. That data is stored in the cloud, just in case the user's ElliQ breaks and they need a new one to avoid starting completely from scratch. However, it is encrypted and secured to protect user privacy. 

"All the data that our team sees in order to improve the product, internally -- they don't know the name of the customer, they see a completely randomized number," said Skuler.  "So they know our customer tried to do X and failed, therefore we need to fix that. But they don't know who, why, or when." 

Skuler also says that the ElliQ service is HIPAA compliant.

ElliQ's cost and state-sponsored programs

Despite the advanced capabilities ElliQ employs, her company comes at a lower cost than you may expect. 

For anyone interested in buying her for a loved one, you can visit the ElliQ website AI in 2023: A year of breakthroughs that left no human thing unchanged These are the jobs most likely to be taken over by AI AI at the edge: 5G and the Internet of Things see fast times ahead Almost half of tech executives say their organizations aren't ready for AI or other advanced initiatives AI in 2023: A year of breakthroughs that left no human thing unchanged

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