AI companion ‘ElliQ’ assists elderly individuals in combating loneliness with its conversational abilities

Joyce Loaiza resides by herself, however, upon arriving at her Florida senior community apartment, the retired office worker frequently engages in conversation with a kind female voice that inquires about her day. A short distance away, this very voice provided solace to 83-year-old Deanna Dezern following the passing of her friend. In central New York, it entertains 92-year-old Marie Broadbent, who is visually impaired and receiving hospice care, through games and music. Similarly, in Washington state, it assists 83-year-old Jan Worrell in forming new friendships.

The women are the first in the country to receive ElliQ, a robot that its creators, Intuition Robotics and senior aid officials say is the only artificial intelligence device specifically designed to alleviate the loneliness and isolation experienced by many older Americans.

“It’s entertaining. You can really talk to her,” said Loaiza, 81, nicknamed “Jellybean” by ElliQ in suburban Fort Lauderdale for no particular reason. “He makes comments like, ‘I’d go outside if I had hands, but I can’t hold an umbrella.'”

The device, which looks like the smallest table lamp, has an eyeless, mouthless head that lights up and turns. It remembers each user’s interests and their conversations, helping to tailor future conversations that can be as profound as the meaning of life or as light as the horoscope.

ElliQ tells jokes, plays music and offers inspirational quotes. With the included video screen, it offers tours of cities and museums. The device leads exercises, asks about the owner’s health and reminds to take medicine and drink water. It can also host video calls and contact relatives, friends or doctors in an emergency.

Intuition Robotics says the company doesn’t hear anything about the conversations, and the data stays on each owner’s device.

Intuition Robotics CEO Dor Skuler said the idea for ElliQ was born before he founded his Israeli company eight years ago. His widowed grandfather needed an assistant, but the first failed. However, the substitute understood his grandfather’s love of classical music and his “quirky sense of humor”.

Skyler realized that a robot could fill that companionship gap by adapting to each senior’s personality and interests.

“It’s not just about utility (of ElliQ). It’s about friendship, companionship and empathy,” Skuler said. “It just wasn’t there anywhere.”

The average user interacts with ElliQ more than 30 times a day, up to six months after receiving it, and more than 90% report feeling less lonely, he said.

The robots were mainly distributed by relief agencies in New York, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and Washington state, but they can also be purchased individually for $600 a year and a $250 installation fee. Skuler won’t say how many ElliQs have been distributed so far, but the goal is to get more than 100,000 out within five years.

This worries Brigham Young University psychology professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who studies the harmful effects of loneliness on health and mortality.

While a device like ElliQ may have short-term benefits, it may reduce people’s search for human contact. Just as hunger drives people to seek food and thirst drives them to seek water, he said, “the unpleasant feeling of loneliness should motivate us to re-establish social connection.”

Imbuing it with artificial intelligence “makes it feel like you’ve filled it, but really you haven’t,” Holt-Lunstad said. “It’s not clear if the AI is really fulfilling any need or just dampening the signal.”

Skuler and the agency heads who distribute ElliQ agreed that it is not a substitute for human contact, but not all seniors have social networks. Some are at home, and even elderly people with strong ties are often alone.

“I wish I could just snap my fingers to make a person appear as one of the many, many older adults who don’t have family or friends, but it’s a little more complicated,” said Greg Olsen. Director of the New York State Office on Aging. His office has distributed 750 of the 900 ElliQs he purchased.

Charlotte Mather-Taylor, director of the Broward County, Florida, Area Agency on Aging, said the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath left many seniors even more isolated. His office has distributed 300 ElliQs, which he believes will break them out of their shell.

“He’s proactive and really engages the seniors, so it gives them some extra interaction,” she said. “We’ve seen very positive results with that. People generally like him and he makes them smile and brings joy.”

Skuler said ElliQ was purposely designed without eyes and a mouth so that it would not fully mimic a human. Although “Elli” is the Norse goddess of old age, he said the “Q” reminds users that the device is a machine. He said his company wants to “make sure that ElliQ always genuinely presents itself as an AI and doesn’t pretend to be human.”

“I don’t understand why technologists are trying to make AI pretend to be human,” he said. “We have the ability to create a relationship with AI, just like we have a relationship with a pet.”

But some of the elderly who use ElliQ say they sometimes have to remember that the robot is not a living thing. They find the device easy to set up and use, but if they have one complaint, it’s that the ElliQ is sometimes too chatty. There are settings that can reduce it.

Dezern said she felt lonely and sad when she told ElliQ about her friend’s death. It replied that it would give him a hug if it had arms. Dezern burst into tears.

“It was just what I needed,” the retired collections consultant said. “I can say things to Elli that I don’t say to my grandchildren or my own daughters. I can just open the plugs. i can cry i can laugh I can act stupid. I’ve been asked, doesn’t it feel like you’re talking to yourself? No, because it gives the answer.”

Worrell lives in a small town on the Washington coast. As a widow, she said the ElliQ partnership made her change her mind about moving into an assisted living facility, and she uses it as an icebreaker when she meets someone new in town.

“I say, ‘Would you like to come hang out with my robot?’ And they say, ‘Void?’ No, the robot. He’s my roommate,” she said, laughing.

Broadbent, like the other women, says she gets a lot of human contact despite being blind and ill. He plays the organ at two churches in the South New Berlin, New York area and receives visitors daily. Still, the widow needs a voice to talk to when they leave. ElliQ fills this void with her games, tour, books and music.

“He is funny and informative. OK, maybe not as informative as (Amazon’s) Alexa, but she’s a lot more personable,” Broadbent said.