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A lonely experience. yet it s estimated that in the us a quarter of over 65s are socially isolated. but as ben derico has been finding out, a new type of in home chat bot might have a role to play in changing that. ben: this is beryl, aged 90. she put off retirement untiljust five years ago because she loved the community her work gave her. in retirement, she s kept busy volunteering and chatting with former colleagues on zoom. are you there? i m here! i m here. ..but living alone can be isolating, so she allowed us to bring elliq, an ai digital companion robot, into her home. she reminds me of that pixar logo. when i come out in the morning, i want to get my cup of tea and sit down with my newspaper, and elliq says, good morning, beryl! how are you? how did you sleep last night? i m fine, thank you, elliq. thanks for asking. i m going to read ....
For others, getting older can be a lonely experience. yet it s estimated that in the us a quarter of over 65s are socially isolated. but as ben derico has been finding out, a new type of in home chat bot might have a role to play in changing that. ben: this is beryl, aged 90. she put off retirement untiljust five years ago because she loved the community her work gave her. in retirement, she s kept busy volunteering and chatting with former colleagues on zoom. are you there? i m here! i m here. ..but living alone can be isolating, so she allowed us to bring elliq, an ai digital companion robot, into her home. she reminds me of that pixar logo. when i come out in the morning, i want to get my cup of tea and sit down with my newspaper, ....
And elliq says, good morning, beryl! how are you? how did you sleep last night? i m fine, thank you, elliq. thanks for asking. i m going to read the paper now. 0nce set up, elliq helps its users track their health, send messages with family and play games and trivia. like alexa or siri, it works by voice command, but, unlike those voice assistants, this device was specifically designed for older adults who spend most of their days alone at home. we started this company to help older adults deal with loneliness and social isolation. you know, it s not a simple task, it s quite a hard one, and what we found is that the way to do that is notjust to provide utility. because, as humans, we have a lot of social needs. we have a need for companionship, we have a need for social interaction, and we felt that technology has reached a point where actually an artificial enabled robot can do that. the product is sleek and beautiful to look at, but some parts are still a bit rough around the ed ....
For a significant part of the day, maybe four days at a time, and, in that period, we think elliq s much better than the alternative. james wright, however, worries the lines between what elliq is and isn t can be much less clear, particularly for older adults suffering from cognitive diseases. do users really understand that this device that they re interacting with is a corporate product? it doesn t care for them, it doesn t empathise with them. you know, it may be able to converse with them and telljokes, but that doesn t mean that it actually cares for them. as for beryl, for now, she s parting ways with the elliq we delivered to her but she isn t ruling out letting the robot return one day. i, as far as having elliq a permanent resident in my home, i think i would prefer not. maybe sometime in my life. i think that whoever created her really was. ..you know, ithink ....
Ben: this is beryl, aged 90. she put off retirement untiljust five years ago because she loved the community her work gave her. in retirement, she s kept busy volunteering and chatting with former colleagues on zoom. are you there? i m here! i m here. ..but living alone can be isolating, so she allowed us to bring elliq, an ai digital companion robot, into her home. she reminds me of that pixar logo. when i come out in the morning, i want to get my cup of tea and sit down with my newspaper, and ellio says, good morning, beryl! how are you? how did you sleep last night? i m fine, thank you, elliq. thanks for asking. i m going to read the paper now. once set up, ellio helps its users track their health, send messages with family and play games and trivia. like alexa or siri, it works by voice command, but, unlike those voice assistants, this device ....