The biggest problem facing the He Tuber elderly comes from health threats. Traditional smart devices, such as the smart spoon we have reported, use AI algorithms to reduce hand shaking so that Alzheimer's patients can eat independently; smart pill boxes remind elderly patients with chronic diseases to take medicine regularly; or wearable devices, such as Clothing sensors and shoe sensors can timely track the body and travel status of the elderly through data collection and positioning.

Limited by the capabilities of traditional machine learning, it can often only achieve relatively simple health management capabilities, and it is difficult to bring about qualitative changes in improving the health level and quality of life of the elderly.

The large model + health management has also undergone major changes in the past year.

In terms of software, with the help of general large models, some barriers to health knowledge and health management for the elderly are reduced. For example, at the Baidu World Conference in 2023, interactive AI medication instructions were launched in response to the country’s call for age-appropriate reform of drug instructions. Users interact with virtual humans in real time to solve the problem of unclear, incomprehensible and font-size problems in traditional paper instructions. Small pain point. You can also set medication time and remind users to take medication on time through message notification or voice.

In terms of hardware, active health management using new wearable devices will become possible in 2023. Wearable devices are no longer passive collectors of data, but medical assistants that actively provide health guidance for the elderly. At the Huawei HDC 2023 Sports and Health themed exchange event, experts from major domestic hospitals and medical academies shared reports on the use of wearable devices using pulse wave PPG signals to screen and manage risks such as atrial fibrillation and sleep disordered breathing syndrome. , cardiovascular disease risk screening, non-invasive hyperglycemia risk assessment, portable and accurate hypertension measurement, emotion recognition and intervention, etc., have played a significant role.

The "three highs" problem of the elderly may be well-known to everyone. There are many wearable devices and professional equipment on the market that can detect them. The gap in emotion detection is particularly expected to be filled in 2023.

A scientist said that the team cooperated with Anhui Feidong Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital and used Huawei bracelets to monitor the emotional problems of hundreds of elderly people. Within a month, they successfully predicted two cases of suicide intention and prevented the elderly from committing suicide. Rural nursing homes generally do not have professional psychological counselors, only nursing and service staff. It is difficult to detect the negative emotions of the elderly in time. The team later distributed more than a hundred bracelets to the elderly in the nursing homes. The elderly responded very well. Think of it as the invisible doctor around you. Questionnaire results also show that using a smart bracelet combined with simple conversations can significantly reduce the depression and anxiety levels of elderly users.

We know that domestic medical institutions are "top-heavy", and large tertiary hospitals bear a very heavy burden of diagnosis and treatment. The efficiency of the elderly in obtaining these medical resources is low. In the end, health management still largely falls on the elderly users themselves. Take the initiative to participate. Through intelligent health management products suitable for aging, real-time monitoring, proactive prevention, and early intervention can increase the elderly's compliance with medical advice on health management and greatly improve the health of the elderly.

If the first two items are "AI assisting the elderly", then technology empowering the elderly also gives them more choices besides "being taken care of".

At an event in 2023, I heard a not-so-grand, but very warm story from a smart agricultural machinery entrepreneur. It is now difficult to force young people to engage in hard, dangerous, low-paying agricultural production. Even people in Africa and Southeast Asia are unwilling to work in the fields. This is human nature. Our driverless tractor kit allows the tractor to run in straight lines and curves in the field. People don’t have to sit in the car in the wind and sun, and can just play with their mobile phones next to them.

Because the aging of the rural labor force has become very serious, our customers may not have received higher education, and they may be very old, already 60 years old, so we must solve the problem of aging-friendly design before a new technology can be truly implemented.

"Then, I was shocked by the learning ability of Chinese farmers. Even a 60-year-old man, his acceptance of technology far exceeded our expectations. If he can use a smartphone well, he can use intelligent production tools well. ".

To sum up, the biggest progress in AI for aging in 2023 is from "AI assisting the elderly" to "AI assisting the elderly" and "AI filial piety for the elderly". Because of the substantial progress in technology, it has gained a broader landing stage.

A JD.com technician said when he heard an AI smart outbound call to an elderly person living at home: “When users feedback that the technology has really helped us and truly feel the care and warmth that the technology has given them, I feel All the overtime work was worth it."

The founder of Fengjiang Intelligence said, "Just now, all the big names have shared their cases of high-precision technology and reaching for the stars and the moon technology. The story I shared is not particularly high-tech, but how cheap technology has changed The corners we can’t see.”

Today, we are getting closer and closer to AGI general artificial intelligence, but increasingly powerful AI must eventually be polished into a product that users can afford, use well, and have very low barriers to use. Suitable aging is where AI or AGI will inevitably reach.

AI is suitable for aging. In addition to "it should be so" ethically, it must practice technology for good; economically, it will also be the main focus of the silver economy.

The market is mainly left to the market. In the future, the government and public sectors will still be the main users of smart aging products. However, at the same time, technology companies will also accelerate the development of new aging products to meet the needs of the elderly and seize the opportunity. Seize the business opportunities of the “golden generation” and silver-haired economy.

The most anticipated AGI+ aging-appropriate product in 2023 should be embodied intelligence that can provide elderly care.

At the end of the year, Stanford's housekeeping robot Aloha became popular because it was "good at" housework such as closing curtains, using a vacuum cleaner, twisting bottle caps, taking out the trash, and doing laundry. It has quickly become the "first choice for elderly care" in the minds of netizens. Even though its cost is as high as 200,000, it cannot stop everyone's enthusiasm for robot elderly care. Some even claim that it "will change the desire to have children."

But soon, the robot overturned. Its developers later released a series of rollover videos. It turns out that Aloha will knock over the wine glass when pouring red wine, burn the pot black when cooking, and cannot find the plate when trying to pour the food out... It seems that the robot is taking over the work of the caregiver. , but it still takes time.

Despite this, the potential of embodied intelligence supported by large models in elderly care scenarios cannot be underestimated.

In 2023, technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Tesla have successively announced their own embodied intelligence products. Domestic leading technology companies such as Huawei and JD.com have also begun to lay out their own related layouts in the field of embodied intelligence.

To put it simply, AGI is to move from the digital world to the physical world, and be implemented in robots, robotic arms, unmanned vehicles, and drones, so that robots/simulators in the physical world are intelligent and can interact with the environment, perceive, and execute like humans. Various tasks.

Embodied intelligence is the next development direction of large models. Robots can better understand and apply high-level semantic knowledge, automatically analyze their tasks and split them into specific actions. This is a task that is difficult for traditional AI to complete, and it also allows The vision of AI-based elderly care has never been clearer.

Perhaps Aloha is still some way off from commercial use, but the development of senior care technology has been evolving at a speed beyond our imagination.

Another thing worth looking forward to is the smart aging-friendly renovation of the whole house.

The home scene is a key area of ​​the silver economy. Japanese scholar Chizuru Ueno mentioned in her book that a survey on elderly care methods in Japan showed that what determines the satisfaction of elderly life is having truly trustworthy friends in a familiar place. (relatives), and living as you please, these conditions are not possible no matter how high-end a nursing home is.

The demand for aging-friendly home decoration is particularly strong, and is currently mainly met by traditional furniture companies, such as VETO's smart lift toilets, sit-stand smart thermostatic showers, wall-mounted folding shower stools and other aging-friendly bathroom products. At the 2023 Beijing Old Expo, household products such as mattresses for Olympic athletes and storage cabinets specially created for Alzheimer's patients also became highlights.

However, aging-friendly smart homes have higher requirements for the intelligence level, collaboration capabilities, interactive experience, appearance design, etc. of IoT devices. At present, whole-house smart manufacturers and technology companies may have greater opportunities. As the demand for smartphone replacements driven by large models is gradually met, terminal manufacturers will definitely focus on the aging-friendly transformation of AIoT smart devices throughout the house to meet the needs of the huge home-based elderly care population.

After a long period of deliberation and 2023 upgrade and evolution, AI adaptive aging is being presented to us in a more complete, socially valuable and economically beneficial way. Smart China will inevitably be accompanied by the continuous improvement of the wisdom level of the elderly. The vigorous development of China's AI-based aging will become a "beacon" for all elderly people in the world who want a better life to refer to.