Unpacking AI for aging
Unpacking AI for aging
LF22 | A number of AI-focused startups are aiming to provide better care at lower cost. It's a worthy goal, but Big Questions will need to be addressed.
Embracing opportunities to improve care
There’s a lot of discussion about the implications of AI on the workforce and the potential for job losses by those in its path, but not talked about enough is the potential to address the looming caregiver crisis or actually improve the quality of care for those without many options today. Even if this new technology has a small chance of making a difference, we should examine it seriously.
There are many ways that AI could address this care crisis, and on behalf of one of my clients, the Institute on Aging, I’ve started to explore the space with a particular focus on helping the vulnerable, those with cognitive challenges and those on low incomes (the primary demographic for IoA).
AI and aging is a hot topic
Aging is often late to the tech party, but it seems it’s less of a laggard here than normal. The A2 Collective (not affiliated with Aging2.0 or The Collective) is building a program on this intersection of aging and AI. This week, tech commentator, Lori Orlov pointed out a number of interesting examples of AI for aging, including conversational AI ones in India and Scotland. The impact of conversational AI is likely to be signficant, and significantly this isn’t ‘old people tech’ - it’s also exciting (/awesome/scary) to the young and hip. There’s no built in condescension - these products are compelling for people all ages.
First tranche, nine companies of interest
I’m looking at a variety of companies using AI in different ways. For example, to deliver curated and personalized insights from connected devices (Care Daily, Zemplee, Sensi), to tailor care conversations or deepen connections (care.coach, Intuition Robotics, Sensely), to improve decision support and deliver personalized caregiver training (Ella by Taproot), to monitor and predict / avoid falls (Safely You) and even to bring you a beer (Labrador). There are many other promising companies not on this list, and I hope get to many them in time.
Care Daily is a SaaS company with an AI and IoT platform that brings people together with AI assistants for daily care in physical spaces. They are building a platform to connect care products and services together and find meaning. They’re making life easier for companies wanting to focus on their product (such as making a great smart bed) rather than building expensive cloud servers. They allow brands to white label care offerings and focus on branding and differentiation. More on Care Daily in LF13.
care.coach fuses empathic humans and advanced AI to provide 24x7 conversational relationships and health coaching at scale. care.coach has amassed a unique database of conversations with people with cognitive impairments, as it has been building an avatar-front end to a voice chat system to provide psychosocial support for over seven years. They’re able to point to significant reductions in falls and hospitalization rates for plan members.
Intuition Robotics designs social companion technologies that positively impacts the lives of older adults. This team, originally from Israel, has been building physical robots since 2015. They’re designed to act as a companion and social support to keep people living independently longer, and have just signed a deal with New York State to provide over 800 olders adults their robot companions to alleviate loneliness.
Labrador is a robotics company building a new generation of assistive robots to improve the quality of life for millions of people. With recent investment by the Alexa Fund and iRobot Ventures and strong positive coverage from this year’s CES, Labrador is on a roll, literally. Its AI-powered ‘moving tables’ can navigate senior living residences or people’s home, bringing objects to those with limited mobility, and mapping the layout at the same time.
Safely You is the artificial intelligence-enabled fall detection and prevention solution for dementia care. One of the original AI-for-falls companies, Safely You has found widespread adoption among memory care communities across the US, and over $50m of funding to support them scale. They’re now starting to look at expanding their technology into the home setting, which is where 85% of older adults in the US are.
Sensi.ai is the first in-home virtual care agent, leveraging AI to enable home care agencies to offer 24/7 services. Originally from Israel (which is where their research team still is), Sensi has been growing quickly as a way for home care agencies to differentiate, as well as offering peace of mind. It uses acoustic monitoring and builds a baseline profile of occupant/s and then informs the agency of any anomalies.
Sensely is a developer of avatar and chatbot-based platform designed to assist insurance plan members and patients. I met Sensely years ago as they were just starting out, and they’ve since raised over $20m in funding and partnered with a number of insurance companies to offer personalized digital coaching and care management. They allow partners to build modularized care protocols specific to the patient and the care plan.
TapRoot is a technology company helping long-term care facilities improve care for cognitively impaired individuals. TapRoot elevates caregivers by giving them high quality, contextually relevant recommendations for helping them navigate challenging situations.
Zemplee is a revolutionary start-up with its sole purpose of building artificial intelligence based assisted living. This solutions brings together insights from its network of connected products and services to draw insights and conclusions about how best to manage the care of someone living independently.
Looking inside the sausage machine
There are many challenges to overcome, many relate to the blackbox of where the data comes from, how it produces the results that it does, and what are the policies of the company around collaborating with others.
How is this inclusive? Ensuring tech availability and connectivity for those with limited means is going to be a key barrier for many of these solutions, especially without insurance reimbursement.
How can we trust you? Making it clear what data was used to derive which outcomes and opening the ‘blackbox’ of decision making to show how it reaches its conclusions.
Where does your data come from? Ensuring that people are fairly represented in the original data sets that were used to drive outcomes. Often the data comes from the wealthier and more connected types who are the ones easier for researchers to engage with.
Do you play well with others? Few issues impacting older adults are not broadly connected with others - lack of social connection could lead to depression which could lead to a lack of appetite and desire to do exercise increasing the risk of falls. So while a fall is the proximate cause of the current issue, addressing it requires a systematic approach, shared data and a collaborative mindset.
See for yourself. Join us in the Presidio, San Francisco on March 14
The IOA’s Companioa program is hosting a Tech Talk event on March 14 featuring six of these startups. The event will provide an opportunity for the companies to present to local families and other stakeholders from IoA’s partner ecosystem and have a Q&A.
IOA has a unique role in the community, as a trusted steward of thousands of vulnerable people’s health and wellbeing. As such it needs to ensure that any use of technology is done ethically and responsibly, in a way that preserves its mission and the priorities of its key stakeholders. The event will be a way to learn more about these companies and hear questions from participants and potential participants of Companioa.
This event is FREE but do note that spaces are limited, so do register if you can make it (and please cancel if your plans change and can’t attend). For more information and to register go here: lu.ma/ioa-tt-mar2023 and to learn more about Companioa, visit: www.ioaging.org/companioa.
Connecting startups with providers - mutual learning around shared missions
In general, we often see that startup innovation is breathless compared to the moderate speed at which long-term care providers move. The pace of change and risk aversion can be frustrating to startups, but the providers are the ones holding the bag if a startups messes up or goes bust.
What’s needed is mutual learning and a development of a common mission. Regardless of the tech or who does what, what’s the goal we want to achieve? What are the milestones to get there? Startups in the aging space have an extra ‘burden’ of doing the right thing, rather than just making a buck, but the promise of making an impact in society as well as making money is enough to attract some of the best and brightest to the space. We’re seeing ever more interest in the area, and I expect I’ll be revisiting this topic again in more detail soon. Meanwhile, hope to see some of you in San Francisco on March 14.