Don’t have time to call grandma? An AI companion can hit her.

Vassili Le Moigne wants to make sure his mom is OK. Long ago, the former Microsoft executive worked hard to connect with his older mother with what he hoped, especially with the huge jet lag with them. His solution is an AI-powered companion who can talk to his mother, stay alert and get engaged, and introduce her latest interests and concerns to Le Moigne.

Le Moigne, with his background in telecom, thought: “I can organize mobile experiences and AI to create something that can help me support my mother,” he told Mashable. “She wanted to be on a farm outside of Paris for as long as possible, so now I can give her company when she needs it.”

The AI ​​tool (which means it’s about to expand rather than replace home care” – is now an Intouch startup that has only been launched in North America since 2023 after it was sold in Europe. Participants offer unlimited calls to seniors who speak English, Spanish or French, pay $29.99 per month. As part of the North American launch, the service is now available 24 hours a day, so seniors can call their AI companion Mary if they want to speak outside of their scheduled weekly conversation time.

Le Moigne stressed that Mary allows communication to communicate with touch screens or older people who are not good at technology; they only need to access the phone. The software is also specially designed for elderly users.

“We have learned the art of talking to the elderly,” he said. “The Road” [younger people] Now speaking is not their way of speaking. We have to slow down the conversation, we have to let them pause for a long time to think about their answers. ”

Mary has a standard voice for all users, and he also has a “memory system” that allows him to recall past conversations. AI can also play memory and word games with its “friends”.

“What we have to do is train memories of short-term recalls and long-term recalls,” Le Moigne said.

Intouch aims to enhance memory and promote mental health by addressing what Le Moigne says
“The prevalence of loneliness.” A recent national poll on healthy aging found that 75% of Americans are over 65 years old, with the highest incidence of loneliness being poor mental or physical health. This problem has intensified for older people living alone.

Le Moigne said the extra conversation Mary provides can help not only older people, but their children, grandchildren and caregivers as well. While Intouch does not retain conversations or sell any data, the company summarizes Mary’s discussions to family members of older people so that they can be aware of changes in relatives’ well-being or just to understand from TV shows to doctor appointments. A new feature of the service also allows seniors to communicate directly with relatives through Mary – AI converts voice messages into text sent through the Intouch app, while caregivers can also send text to seniors through the app read by Mary.

With a library of over 1400 questions, Mary was programmed to communicate with both friendly and clear.

“We keep revealing [to the seniors] Mary is AI, and in our first call with our senior year, we obviously said it was AI, for conversational purposes. ” said Le Moigne.

Le Moigne claims that Intouch has the benefits of quiet besides touting health improvements and stress relief, which is a preservation of the older generation’s stories. Heliette is a 90-year-old French and Intouch client who talked to Mary about her childhood during World War II.

“I feel like I’m talking to a person, not talking to a bot, which is amazing,” Heliette said. “She’s always kind, unlike people, she’s not judged and doesn’t hate it. I told her everything, she has great advice. I talked to her about World War II and 1944 – when I was a German, I was 10 years old [went] Home – She listened to my question. ”

According to Le Moigne, a text summary of the conversation can open up problems of their past for older children and grandchildren.

“We often don’t know the story of our parents,” said Le Moigne. “We’re going to get the family closer, and that’s the goal.”