Over the past year, the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) has partnered with Intuition Robotics in a pilot to bring ElliQ – the first-ever proactive and empathetic AI companion – to more than 800 New Yorkers in an effort to combat loneliness, foster engagement, improve overall health and wellness, and support aging-in-place. Loneliness has long been a concern for older adults, but the COVID-19 pandemic greatly exacerbated the issue, as the U.S. Surgeon General recently stressed in a highly publicized advisory on the epidemic of loneliness and isolation.
According to data reports from the NYSOFA pilot, AI companion ElliQ has achieved a 95% reduction in loneliness and great improvement in well-being among older adults using the platform. ElliQ users throughout New York have also demonstrated exceptionally high levels of engagement consistently over time, interacting with their ElliQ over 30 times per day, six days a week. More than 75% of these interactions are related to improving the older adults’ social, physical and mental well-being. Given these results, NYSOFA and Intuition Robotics just announced the continuation of their partnership.
ElliQ is proactive and personalized: it initiates conversation, suggests activities, and remembers what users tell it. ElliQ encourages and works with users to set and help achieve goals. It is designed to convey empathy to create trust and drive engagement and behavior change.
Over the past year, Intuition Robotics has added unique features to keep seniors active, connected and engaged, such as: ElliQ taking users to museum exhibits and road trips, painting with ElliQ using generative AI, mindfulness exercises led by a certified mindfulness instructor, recording life memories in a digital memoir and sharing them with family and friends, and the ability for the NYSOFA staff to send informational video messages about available resources.
“We had high hopes for the efficacy of ElliQ, but the results that we’re seeing are truly exceeding our expectations,” said Greg Olsen, Director of the New York State Office for the Aging. “The data speaks for itself, and the stories that we’re hearing from case managers and clients around the state have been nothing short of unbelievable. To see the impact this technology is making on the lives of our community members is incredibly moving and we can’t wait to see this program continue to grow.”
“It has been a pleasure to work alongside local offices for the aging and partners to identify older adults who would most benefit from empathetic AI,” said Dor Skuler, CEO and Co-Founder of Intuition Robotics. “ElliQ can’t make an impact on individuals until it has been invited into the home, and the case managers and staff on the ground have been integral in educating older adults about ElliQ, supporting installations, and facilitating introductions between our team and the clients directly. We’re excited to continue our work with NYSOFA and other aging agencies to increase the number of aging adults we can help.”
For more information about the New York State Office for the Aging, visit http://aging.ny.gov. To learn more about ElliQ, visit http://www.elliq.com.
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