Can talking dolls fill the loneliness of hundreds of millions of elderly people?

The lonely grandmother didn't wait for a good chatbot.

An 81-year-old woman returned home. As usual, the house was quiet, and she was the only one there. Photos of her grandchildren were displayed in the cabinet, and bottles of medicine for joint pain were piled up beside the bed.

The old lady picked up a doll lying on the bed. In her lonely solitary life, this was the companion that accompanied her every moment.

She stared into the doll's round eyes and expressed her love for it. "My love for you goes to the moon and back." The doll responded to the grandma, "Grandma, I miss you even when you're right beside me."

This is not an imagined scene from a science - fiction movie, nor is it a plot generated by AI. It's a true story that happened in Seoul, South Korea.

This doll is manufactured by the South Korean startup Hyodol. It has built - in AI models such as GPT and can have daily conversations with the elderly, reminding them to take medicine and have meals on time every day.

Combined with sensors for Q&A and real - time monitoring, the doll can promptly report the physical and mental health status of the elderly to relevant social workers or family members. In the context of limited social and family care, these lovely dolls are not only loyal listeners but also 24 - hour one - on - one guardians.

The South Korean government once cooperated with Hyodol to distribute dolls to elderly people living alone. Currently, more than 12,000 Hyodol robots have been placed in the homes of South Korean seniors.

To explore foreign markets, Hyodol tries different appearances | Image source: foreign media "Rest of World"

According to statistics from the market research firm Grand View Research, the global intelligent companionship market reached a scale of $28.19 billion in 2024 and is expected to continue expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 30.8%, reaching $140.75 billion by 2030. According to calculations by Guotai Junan Research Institute, the potential market demand for companion robots among the elderly population in China is approximately 420 billion yuan.

Given the demand for accompanying the elderly, is the domestic AI - assisted elderly care market a blue ocean? Can the current AI companionship technology meet the needs of the senior population?

No suitable hardware for accompanying the elderly can be found

According to data from the World Health Organization, in 2020, the global population aged 60 and above already exceeded the number of children under 5 years old. The elderly's need for companionship is an old - fashioned topic, but it's an issue that all aging societies have to face.

In Asia, South Korea has entered a super - aged society. In Japan, almost one in three people is an elderly person. China has the largest elderly population in the world. The National Bureau of Statistics predicts that around 2035, the elderly population aged 60 and above will exceed 400 million.

In the Chinese silver - haired economy market, people's attention mainly focuses on the safety needs of the elderly. Whether it's the aging - friendly renovation of communities or the "silver - haired economy" products on the market, most of them are concentrated on solving physical safety problems such as "what to do if they fall" and "who will know if they get sick".

However, apart from the basic physical safety guarantee, the emotional needs of the elderly as individuals also urgently need to be recognized.

How eager are the elderly for entertainment? It can be seen from the data of the short - drama industry: The "Research Report on the Development of the Chinese Micro - short Drama Market" released by the advertising and marketing platform Miaozhen System in 2024 shows that middle - aged and elderly people account for nearly half of the total audience, and their payment activity is higher than the average.

With the acceleration of urbanization in China, it has become common for children and their parents to live in different places. "Empty - nest" and "living alone" have become the daily lives of many elderly people. The "Fifth Sampling Survey on the Living Conditions of Urban and Rural Elderly People in China" shows that the proportion of elderly people living alone nationwide has reached 14.2%.

The physical distance makes it difficult for children to provide daily care, and the loneliness deep in the elderly's hearts is hard to relieve. In addition, the social service system can't fully fill the gap. The shortage of the elderly - care service talent team is severe. A survey by the China Research Center on Aging shows that the proportion of long - term practitioners is only 13.7%.

According to the data from the 2018 Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study Project of the China Center for Social Science Survey at Peking University, 42% of Chinese women and 29% of Chinese men are at a relatively high risk of depression. The World Health Organization reports that social isolation and loneliness affect about a quarter of the elderly and are key risk factors for mental health problems in old age.

Currently, the intelligent machines in the domestic market that can play a certain role in companionship are mainly called companion or household robots. When searching for keywords such as "companionship for the elderly" on shopping platforms, most robots still focus on the safety needs of elderly people living alone, providing functions such as security detection, indoor movement, one - click help - calling, or remote monitoring.

In addition, some hardware devices under the guise of "companionship" are essentially smart tablets or speakers integrating TV and voice Siri functions.

They can provide information unilaterally, but it's difficult to achieve real - time emotional communication with the elderly. Similar hardware forms and stereotyped answers make it hard to create a sense of one - on - one companionship.

The current intelligent elderly - care market can't fully meet the emotional needs of the elderly. Therefore, it's difficult to select a suitable product when trying to pick companion hardware for the elderly.

A post on social media mentioned that someone wanted to find a simple - to - operate AI companion hardware for their "high - demand" grandma who speaks Yunnan dialect, hoping to relieve the old lady's loneliness through real - time communication, but felt that there were no suitable products on the market.

Above the blue ocean, the emotional void of hundreds of millions of elderly people awaits to be filled.

It's difficult to fill the gap with AI toys

The emergence of artificial intelligence technology, especially large - language models, theoretically provides the possibility to fill this market gap.

To achieve real emotional companionship, the built - in intelligent brain must go beyond the relatively backward Siri - style Q&A mode. A mature companion AI needs to be able to accurately recognize semantics, understand the emotions behind the dialogue, and even initiate warm conversations proactively to provide effective emotional comfort.

In addition to the Hyodol doll, other products focusing on AI - assisted elderly care have also emerged in the international market. The Israeli company Intuition Robotics has developed a companion named ElliQ that looks like a "table lamp". In 2022, ElliQ was commercially launched and quickly implemented in multiple state governments and medical organizations in North America. Japan's Kanematsu Corporation recently announced a cooperation with the company to develop an ElliQ suitable for the Japanese market.

Image source: ElliQ official website

Besides the most basic functions of reminding medication, monitoring health, and video calling, ElliQ's biggest breakthrough is its "initiative" in emotional care - imagine a robot that can actively detect your emotional changes and take the initiative to ask and comfort you when you're down.

Meanwhile, based on the GPT language model and long - term memory storage ability, ElliQ can start and conduct in - depth conversations with the elderly, find suitable opportunities to initiate dialogues, record life memories and share them with family members, and even lead the elderly to do mindfulness exercises and visit virtual museums. Through this in - depth interaction and proactive concern, the elderly can easily feel that ElliQ "genuinely" wants to accompany them and regard it as a life partner who understands them.

Emotional value isn't just about in - depth conversations; it can also be an attractive and warm form. Toys naturally bring a sense of healing, and cute anthropomorphic or object - mimicking appearances are important pluses.

In the field of AI companionship, the toy form is an unavoidable category. The Japanese robot company Groove X has developed LOVOT, which looks like a "plush toy". The built - in sensors and AI algorithms enable it to react to touch, sound, and calls like a pet and convey emotions through eye contact and sounds.

Image source: LOVOT official website

LOVOT has a real and lovely "sense of life" and can relieve people's loneliness when they're alone. In June 2023, LOVOT entered the Chinese market and opened its first offline store in Shanghai. The price of a single LOVOT starts at 29,800 yuan, with an additional subscription fee of 880 yuan per month.

In 2024, the Chinese company Mengyou Intelligence also launched the AI pet Ropet. With its fluffy appearance and constant - temperature touch, it hopes to remind people to discover and express love through its softness. Recently, the company completed tens of millions of yuan in Series A1 financing.

Image source: Ropet official website

Although most of the users of domestic AI companion hardware are children or women, players in the market have also seen the potential of the silver - haired market.

FoloToy is an AI toy startup targeting children aged 3 - 9. It was founded in July 2023. Its products mainly inject interactive capabilities into traditional toys, such as toys in the shapes of cacti and sunflowers. The open - source community allows users to customize and unleash their creativity. The overall price ranges from 200 yuan to 500 yuan.

Image source: Folotoy official website

Wang Le, the founder, told Cweige Gongshe that some users had feedback saying they hoped to customize products for their elderly parents or grandparents and asked if the form of AI toys could solve some (companionship) problems in the elderly's lives.

FoloToy also conducted small - scale trials in cooperation with nursing homes. They customized chatbots for the elderly, made AI telephones to simulate interviews to help the elderly write their memoirs, etc.

During the contact with nursing homes, Wang Le found that many elderly people actually lacked chat companionship. An AI toy that they could chat with, touch, and hug at any time could bring great improvement.

Image source: Wang Le @lewangx

However, through interviews and research, Cweige Gongshe found that although many players in the domestic AI companionship track recognize the demand in the elderly market, not many enterprises have invested in developing dedicated product lines. The industry is still in the early stage of "waiting and trying".

The AI toy BubblePal released by the AI toy company Haivivi is a white circular pendant. Children can hang it on the necks of their favorite dolls and have conversations with them.

Image source: Haivivi official website

As of now, the total sales of BubblePal have exceeded 250,000 units. Even though the business model of AI companionship in the children's market has been verified, the company has expressed caution about entering the elderly market.

They believe that it's more difficult to expand the user base in the elderly market than in the children's market. "There are natural differences between adults and children. From the perspective of emotional companionship needs, the elderly can play with mobile phones, dance square - dances, play mahjong, etc. to pass the time, while children have limited ways to entertain themselves and rely more on adults, which also means they have more demand for emotion - accompanying products."

FoloToy also gave an honest answer, saying that it has no plan to set up a product line specifically for the elderly in the next two to three years. "We can do something, but it will be more like public - welfare projects in cooperation with elderly - care institutions," Wang Le said. "The company's team is not large, and it's difficult to serve all groups at the same time."

The emotional needs of the elderly are more complex than expected

The slow progress of AI - assisted elderly care is not because the