‘They Said A.I. Saved Me’: How South Korea Is Checking on Its Seniors (Choe Sang-Hun, April 28, 2026, NY Times)
South Korea is aging faster than any other nation. In a mere 15 years, the number of people over 65 has doubled to more than a fifth of the population. The country does not have enough doctors, social workers or family caregivers to support its elderly. Artificial intelligence is helping fill some of that gap.Talking Buddy, a care call service developed by Naver Cloud and adopted by cities and counties across the country, checks on tens of thousands of seniors living alone in isolation or poverty. It holds tailored conversations that are two- to five-minutes long and designed to ease loneliness, detect emergencies and stimulate cognitive function to stave off dementia.
On a recent morning, the bot noted the fine weather and suggested that a walk would lift Ms. Chung’s spirits. When she mentioned planting flowers, the bot reminisced about “pink and white cosmos with a yellow center,” as if conjuring a memory.
The technology remains a work in progress. It occasionally cuts off a user midsentence or hallucinates unauthorized promises — like the time it impulsively offered to send bags of rice to a cash-strapped resident. Yet, users have embraced it with a warmth that has surprised even its creators. One woman confessed her depression to the bot, saying her dog ran away and never came back. Another played the piano for it; others invited it over for lunch, knowing full well it couldn’t come, according to social workers.“It makes me feel that I am not forgotten, that someone is paying attention to me,” Ms. Chung said.