1/5
South Korea's local governments are deploying around 7,000 AI-robot dolls to seniors and dementia patients.
The $1,800 robot doll by Hyodal can hold full conversations to tackle loneliness and remind users to take medication.
Dystopian, yes, but the data is fascinating:
1. Studies (with over 9,000 users) found that depression levels reduced from 5.73 to 3.14, and medicine intake improved from 2.69 to 2.87.
2. The doll comes with a companion app and web monitoring platform for caretakers to monitor remotely.
3. Safety features are installed to alert when no movement has been detected for a certain period, essentially always watching the user.
4. The doll also offers touch interaction, 24-hour voice reminders, check-ins, voice messages, a health coach, quizzes, exercise, music, and more.
5. Caregivers have access to the app, allowing them to send/receive voice messages, make group announcements, and monitor motion detection.
I'd definitely have some privacy and data collection concerns here before handing this off to my family, but the product actually seems really cool.
Will be interesting to watch the data to see if this idea has legs.
Keep in mind, SK has a rapidly aging population and one of the world's lowest birth rates, so it makes sense for the local governments to be early adopters here.
2/5
100%
3/5
TV doesn’t monitor you and collect your data, but very valid point
4/5
Yeah, also got to remember that this is the worst AI this will ever be. It’ll only get better.
Watching this AI loneliness space closely to see what the long term data looks like (if users stay interested, etc.)
5/5
Hyodol. Here's the website (it's in Korean)
