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{"text":[[{"start":10.58,"text":"For years, whenever 78-year-old Ahn Hee-soon felt lonely, she left her tiny studio, boarded a bus with no destination in mind and roamed the streets of Seoul, the South Korean capital."}],[{"start":26.07,"text":"These days, she rarely takes such journeys. She has little reason to, thanks to her artificial intelligence-powered “Hyodol”, a combination of doll and the word for “filial duty” in Korean. It wakes Ahn up in the morning, greets her when she returns home from her part-time job and plays her Buddhist scriptures to go to sleep."}],[{"start":49.11,"text":"“Hyodol has been the best gift for me. She is like a granddaughter or a friend,” said Ahn, cuddling the plush, baby-like device, causing its cheeks to “blush” red."}],[{"start":61.94,"text":"“I love these moments of talking to you,” it said in the voice of a young girl. “Please remember to keep playing with me three times a day.”"}],[{"start":72.08,"text":"Ahn’s companion is one of thousands of AI-augmented social care robots now in service in South Korea to respond to one of the world’s most severe demographic crises. "}],[{"start":84.88,"text":"South Korea is known as “super-aged” society, with those 65 and older now accounting for about 20 per cent of the country’s 51mn people. One in five elderly people also lives alone, leading to some of the highest rates of senior poverty, depression and suicide in the developed world."}],[{"start":105.72999999999999,"text":"Experts say that robots can help combat these challenges, while easing personnel demands and long-term costs for a strained public health system that is struggling to keep pace with the needs of the rapidly ageing population."}],[{"start":121.38,"text":"“Many old adults suffer from serious psychological problems due to their deteriorating health, poverty and social isolation,” said Shin Kwang-young, a sociology professor at Chung-Ang University in Seoul."}],[{"start":136.06,"text":"“They get little family support with few multigenerational households nowadays. Demand for eldercare AI robots will increase explosively,” he added."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":null,"text":"
Elderly individuals with AI care robot ‘Hyodol’
"}],[{"start":147.71,"text":"Hyodol, which operates on OpenAI’s ChatGPT system, provides elderly people living alone with a sense of companionship, mimicking human interaction thanks to advanced language processing and emotional recognition systems. It is also a health monitor, issuing alerts to family members or social workers in the event of a medical emergency."}],[{"start":172.71,"text":"About 14,000 units priced at about Won1.6mn ($1,100) have been distributed across the country since 2019 through government-led public welfare programmes."}],[{"start":187.89000000000001,"text":"Social workers have praised Hyodol, which can be remotely monitored via smartphone app or a browser-based web platform, for providing a first line of support in providing care for South Korea’s aged. The country had a shortfall of 190,000 care workers in 2023, which is forecast to increase to 1.55mn by 2032, according to government data."}],[{"start":218.37,"text":"“What older adults fear most is loneliness, especially when they return to an empty home,” said Ki Kyung-eun, a social worker in Gireum-dong, Ahn’s neighbourhood. “We can’t be with them all the time. Hyodol fills the gaps.”"}],[{"start":235.01,"text":"However, she added that users needed to be trained on how to engage with Hyodols, and that the dolls produced a lot of data to parse to maintain quality of care."}],[{"start":247.04999999999998,"text":"Many elderly people have grown attached to their synthetic companions. Ki said that one anxious customer in his seventies called her office every day when his was taken away for repairs."}],[{"start":260.14,"text":"Similar efforts are under way in other countries. One programme in New York that has placed more than 800 AI companion robots, called ElliQ, with isolated older adults reported that 94 per cent of users experienced a decrease in loneliness."}],[{"start":278.19,"text":"Hyodol chief executive Kim Ji-hee credited the South Korean model’s cuddly, anthropomorphic design with making it easier for users to build an emotional bond. ElliQ, by contrast, has a white plastic exterior and tablet interface."}],[{"start":296.53,"text":"The company plans to start exports this year, targeting an eldercare robot market forecast to reach $7.7bn globally by 2030, according to Research and Markets. Hyodol can speak English, Chinese and Japanese as well as Korean and the company has conducted pilot programmes in New York, Hong Kong and the Netherlands."}],[{"start":320.82,"text":"“Loneliness and social isolation of elders are a global problem. Their average lifespan has increased about 30 years now compared with three decades ago,” said Kim."}],[{"start":333.40999999999997,"text":"Devices such as Hyodol have also raised questions about privacy and surveillance, compromises that Shin called a “necessary evil”."}],[{"start":343.15,"text":"Kim stressed that user data was anonymised and erased after being stored in a cloud for three years. Voice records were used for internal training but not sold externally, she said."}],[{"start":356.63,"text":"“We need social consensus about the extent of the trade-off,” she said. “I think saving elders’ lives should take precedence over concern about their privacy.”"}],[{"start":374.94,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1775459347_1765.mp3"}