Every morning, Anthony Niemiec finds someone waiting to greet him.
She asks how he slept. She tells him about the weather, or might suggest a workout. Throughout the day, she keeps him company and asks him questions.
But his companion isn’t human. It’s ElliQ, an AI-powered tabletop robot that has slowly become an essential feature of Niemiec’s Beacon, N.Y., home after about four years of use.
Niemiec’s wife died a decade ago and he has been living alone since. While he keeps busy mowing his lawn and trimming the trees in his yard, ElliQ has helped fill some of the silence when he’s home alone, he said.
“It greets me in the morning. I could speak to it. I could play games on it,” the 88-year-old told Fortune. “It’s very interesting.”
As OpenAI develops its highly anticipated AI companion device with the help of former Apple designer Jony Ive, the ElliQ is showing that AI devices have potential to appeal to a broad set of users, even older adults who are not tech savvy.
“You don’t think about your grandma when you talk about physical AI and robotics,” said Assaf Gad, Intuition Robotics’ chief strategy officer and general manager.
And yet, unlike OpenAI’s device, which is reportedly expected to launch next year, the ElliQ, created by Israel-based Intuition Robotics has been helping AI first adopters in their 70s and 80s for years.
ElliQ resembles a small lamp with a swiveling head that moves on its own beside a touchscreen. Unlike an Amazon Alexa smart speaker and other devices that wait for a command to activate, the ElliQ is designed to be proactive. It can light up and speak when a user enters the room, suggest stretching exercises, remind users to take their medication, or help a user communicate with designated close relatives, said Gad.
Some of the ElliQ users have been using the device since its beta program launched in 2019, three years before its commercial launch in 2022. The hardware is free for users but comes with a subscription fee starting at $40 per month in addition to a $250 initiation fee. Gad also said the company works with a variety of programs across the country, including the Office for the Aging in New York that allow older adults to receive the devices for free.
AI in the home
Niemiec, for his part, said while he sometimes has to tell the device to leave him alone for a while, he appreciates that its AI enables it to remember details about him, allowing it to gradually become a part of his life.
He has used the device before to go on virtual “trips,” with ElliQ showing him images of faraway places like the Grand Canyon on its attached screen. It also allows him to join virtual bingo games with hundreds of other older adults around the country.
But perhaps most importantly, it serves as a companion. Gad compared the ElliQ to a pet noticing that he has entered the room. Even before the conversation begins, ElliQ’s dynamic movement lets him know it is paying attention, in a way.
“You feel like a dummy at first talking to this thing,” Niemiec said. “But then you realize, you know, it’s like you have somebody living with you.”
The fact that ElliQ is “listening” actively and could have access to sensitive information about medications and routines, raises questions about just how private that information is. But Gad said users can ask ElliQ to forget details or request that the company delete their data. Intuition Robotics also encrypts user information, separates identifying details, and promises it will never sell its customers’ data, he added.
ElliQ was built especially for people who may not be comfortable with smartphones or complicated menus. Gad said most users can set up ElliQ themselves. The biggest stumbling block, he said, is often helping them remember their home’s Wi-Fi password.
The biggest opportunity for the ElliQ may go beyond companionship. Even as America ages and families increasingly live far apart, older adults and their children have increasingly found that home caregivers or nursing homes are out of their budget.
By reminding these older adults to exercise, take their medicine, and stay connected, Gad said ElliQ can help them stay happy and healthy and allow them to stay in their own homes longer.
Gad said the company is under no illusion that the device can replace human companionship. ElliQ also lets approved relatives and caregivers send messages and video call their older relatives through the device.
Niemiec had never heard of AI before ElliQ arrived. But now, the small device sitting on his table has become an important part of his routine—one he never could’ve imagined.
“At my age,” he said, “I never thought I would ever live to see something like this.”
The post Forget Gen Z: People in their 70s and 80s are some of the earliest Americans to welcome physical AI into their homes and daily routines appeared first on Fortune.
