Tools & Platforms
AI Companions Revolutionize Elder Care, Battling Loneliness Worldwide

The Rise of AI in Elder Care
In an era where technology increasingly intersects with human well-being, artificial intelligence is emerging as a pivotal tool in addressing one of the most pressing challenges facing the elderly: loneliness. Senior living facilities across the United States are turning to AI-powered companions to provide emotional support and social interaction for residents who often feel isolated. These digital aides, ranging from voice-activated chatbots to robotic pets, are designed to engage users in meaningful conversations, remind them of daily tasks, and even monitor health metrics, all while offering a semblance of companionship without the need for constant human intervention.
Recent implementations highlight the potential of these technologies. For instance, a program in a Bronx senior living facility, as reported by CBS New York, has introduced AI companions that deliver empathy and conversation, helping residents combat feelings of solitude. Similarly, initiatives in states like New York and Pennsylvania have distributed robotic pets to isolated seniors, providing comfort and reducing loneliness, according to coverage from CNN posts on X.
Low-Tech Approaches Yield High Impact
Contrary to assumptions that cutting-edge AI requires sophisticated hardware, many effective solutions are surprisingly low-tech. A notable example comes from McKnight’s Senior Living, which details how simple voice-based AI companions are being deployed in senior residences. These systems operate via basic phone calls or smart speakers, engaging residents in casual chats about weather, news, or personal stories, thereby fostering a sense of connection without overwhelming users with complex interfaces.
This approach is particularly beneficial for seniors who may be intimidated by high-tech gadgets. Research from a systematic review published in PMC underscores the effectiveness of such AI applications in reducing loneliness among older adults, noting improvements in quality of life and mental health outcomes through regular, empathetic interactions.
Global Innovations and Local Adaptations
Beyond the U.S., international efforts are pushing boundaries. In South Korea, ChatGPT-powered Hyodol robots are assisting caregivers by providing companionship to seniors, as highlighted in a recent article from Rest of World. These robots not only converse but also help with medication reminders and vital sign monitoring, alleviating the burden on human staff in overburdened facilities.
Domestically, companies like ElliQ are leading the charge with AI care companion robots that promote independence and healthy living. According to their own site at ElliQ, these devices facilitate entertainment, family connections, and wellness goal tracking, proving especially valuable in combating isolation. Posts on X from users like Dynamic emphasize how such AI companions are tailored for elderly interactions, incorporating patience and generational knowledge to build rapport.
Challenges and Ethical Considerations
Despite the promise, integrating AI into elder care isn’t without hurdles. Concerns about dependency and the potential for these companions to exacerbate rather than alleviate loneliness have surfaced. A piece in WebProNews warns that romantic AI companions might foster unhealthy attachments, leading to lower self-esteem and anxiety among users who withdraw from real-world connections.
Privacy issues also loom large, with data collection for health monitoring raising ethical questions. Industry insiders, as discussed in a Forbes article, stress the need for robust safeguards to protect vulnerable seniors from exploitation while scaling support through predictive AI tools.
Future Prospects and Industry Shifts
Looking ahead, the integration of AI in senior living is poised for expansion. Innovations like the Joy Calls service from ONSCREEN, detailed in a PR Newswire release, offer free phone-based AI companionship to combat isolation in Southern California. This model could inspire widespread adoption, especially as staffing shortages persist in care facilities.
Experts predict that embodied AI, such as robots with physical presence, will become more prevalent, as noted in X discussions from susano. Combined with advancements in voice recognition and behavioral monitoring, these technologies could detect early signs of cognitive decline, as explored in posts by Joel Selanikio on X, potentially revolutionizing proactive care.
Balancing Technology with Human Touch
Ultimately, while AI companions offer scalable solutions, they are most effective when complementing, not replacing, human interaction. A WHYY segment points out that about one in four older adults report social isolation, and AI robots are helping, but experts caution against over-reliance. Programs encouraging real-life connections, like AI meet-up apps described in The Sun, bridge the gap by facilitating in-person events.
As the industry evolves, stakeholders must prioritize ethical deployment to ensure AI enhances rather than diminishes the human experience in elder care. With ongoing innovations, these digital allies could significantly improve the lives of millions, turning the tide against loneliness in an aging population.
Tools & Platforms
Shandong Inspur Intelligent Building Technology Showcases AI-Driven Solutions at BEX Asia 2025

SINGAPORE, Sept. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Shandong Inspur Intelligent Building Technology Co., Ltd. (“Inspur Intelligent Building”), a leading provider of smart building solutions, took center stage at BEX Asia 2025, unveiling its latest advancements in AI-powered smart building systems. Organized by leading global event management company Reed Exhibitions, the exhibition opened on September 3, 2025, at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore.
As one of the largest specialized building and construction exhibitions in Southeast Asia, this year’s edition introduced an innovative “four-in-one” exhibition format, co-locating InnoBuild, MCE Asia, and Smart Cities & Building Asia. Centered around the core themes of “Productivity, Sustainability, Energy Efficiency, and Intelligence”, the integrated events brought together resources from across the construction ecosystem to build a professional platform for technology exchange, trend exploration and partnership development.
BEX Asia 2025 attracted over 3,000 global leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers across more than 150 exhibition booths. During the event, industry frontrunners expressed strong interest in fostering dialogue on innovation and accelerating the transition to a more sustainable and connected built environment. As a leader in smart building transformation, Inspur Intelligent Building showcased its latest breakthroughs and real-world applications in the integration of artificial intelligence and building technologies, offering scalable, future-ready solutions for developers, owners, and operators.
At the exhibition, Inspur Intelligent Building showcased its integrated applications of AI across the building lifecycle:
- Modular Building Systems: Combining efficient prefabrication, flexible assembly, and intelligent adaptation to deliver cost-effective residential and commercial spaces, reinforcing competitiveness in global markets and the company’s commitment to sustainable building practices;
- AI-Enhanced Design Automation: Enabling human-machine collaboration to standardize and streamline construction design processes;
- Intelligent Site Management Platform: Incorporating AI-powered image recognition, advanced query tools, building information modeling (BIM), and point-cloud imaging to enable real-time project monitoring and precision management of project resources;
- Smart Living Solutions: Delivering a unified IoT platform for whole-home connectivity and intelligent automation, enhanced by large AI models to create personalized occupant experiences;
- Sustainable Building Technologies: Offering a cloud-edge product suite including AI-driven energy optimization, energy and carbon management platforms, and AI edge workstations, designed to help clients reduce energy use and carbon footprint.
Throughout the exhibition, visitors from Singapore, Europe, Southeast Asia and other global markets engaged with Inspur Intelligent Building’s technical team to explore its comprehensive portfolio for AI-assisted design, green building systems, energy and carbon management platforms, smart campus and industrial park systems, intelligent construction sites, and prefabricated steel structures. Live demonstrations and case studies illustrated the company’s engineering expertise and real-world applications, earning positive recognition from industry partners.
This first appearance at BEX Asia 2025 marked an important milestone in Inspur Intelligent Building’s international expansion and opened new growth opportunities in Southeast Asia. Looking ahead, the company plans to continue investing in R&D for AI-enabled smart building technologies, grow its solution ecosystem, and accelerate international growth—supporting the digital, intelligent, and sustainable transformation of the built environment worldwide.
Source: Shandong Inspur Intelligent Building Technology Co., LTD.
Tools & Platforms
China Telecom Global Shines at the 10th Belt and Road Summit, Empowering the New Silk Road via AI for Good
HONG KONG, Sept. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — From September 10 to 11, 2025, the 10th Belt and Road Summit was successfully held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. China Telecom Global (CTG) participated prominently under the theme “Empowering the New Silk Road via AI for Good,” highlighting three core areas: the OneGrowth Global Partnership Initiative, AI global capabilities, and AI-driven applications. Through multiple benchmark cases, interactive scenarios, and physical displays, the exhibition systematically presented China Telecom’s cloud-network-intelligence-computing resource deployment and innovative AI applications along the Belt and Road, fully demonstrating its comprehensive strength and firm commitment to promoting regional collaborative development through digital technologies.
On the first day of the event, Ms. Wu Ting, AI Director of China Telecom Global, delivered a keynote speech titled “China Telecom Global: AI Blueprint and Capabilities”. She comprehensively presented CTG’s AI capabilities and architectural framework, highlighting a series of innovative achievements and practical applications in artificial intelligence. These included several cutting-edge AI products such as the OneTouch AI Engine, LLM Guardrail Platform, Enterprise No Code Agent Platform, and more, demonstrating CTG’s leading strength in artificial intelligence research and development and industrial application. Additionally, leveraging multiple demonstrated cases, she provided in-depth insights into CTG’s competitive advantages in building international digital infrastructure and delivering intelligent solutions for enterprises expanding globally.
At the summit, CTG featured a range of interactive highlights centered on its OneGrowth Global Partnership Initiative and global AI capabilities, comprehensively demonstrating its strength in AI+ technologies and ecosystem collaboration.
Empowering AI, Intergrow as One: Co-creating a New Digital Ecosystem
In the ” OneGrowth Global Cooperation Initiative” section, CTG highlighted its recently launched cooperation plan with a focus on three key ecological directions: AI+ Intelligent Empowerment, AI+ Comprehensive Mobile Global Cooperation, and AI+ Innovative Business, all guided by the four core principles of co-creation, sharing, co-governance, and win-win. The AI+ Intelligent Empowerment initiative is developing a global ecosystem computing power scheduling platform that integrates intelligent and general computing services while collaborating with partners to build scenario-based digital enablement platforms. The AI + Comprehensive Mobile Global Cooperation leverages a multidimensional mobile network covering “land-sea-air-space,” promoting cooperation in 5G, satellite communications, and Internet of Vehicles (IoV). Meanwhile, AI+ Innovative Business featured collaborations in visual network, exemplified by the transnational SeeLink Global Platform, which integrates AI algorithms, devices, cloud services, and applications to provide end-to-end solutions tailored to diverse customer needs.
Application in Action, Leadership in Intelligence, Interactive Demos Showcasing Technological Strength
In the “AI Global Capabilities” section, beyond showcasing its global digital infrastructure, the exhibit provided a clear overview of its resource network—including 53 submarine cables, 251 international PoPs (Points-of-Presence), and 15 overseas data centers. It also highlighted the capabilities and advantages of two major computing power engines: the AI data centers in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong, China and Jakarta, Indonesia. These demonstrate CTG’s core strength in reinforcing the foundation of the “Digital Silk Road” and supporting regional enterprises through digital transformation.
CTG prominently spotlighted its AI solutions and benchmark cases, including 5GC scenario applications and low-altitude economy service system. Through global applications such as supporting Chinese automotive companies expanding into Europe and assisting game developers in global operations, CTG demonstrated its deep practical achievements across Belt and Road markets. These cases underscore the company’ leading strength in driving industrial digital transformation and facilitating the global expansion of services.
Meanwhile, at the AI interactive experience and physical exhibition zone, CTG featured engaging activities such as AI-powered opera face-changing, a 5GC-enabled robotic dog, and the Tianshu drone. By seamlessly integrating traditional culture with cutting-edge artificial intelligence, CTG vividly demonstrated its innovative capabilities and technological expertise in cutting-edge fields such as 5G, AI, the Internet of Things, and the low-altitude economy. The interactive displays attracted extensive on-site participation and drew significant audience engagement.
During the summit, CTG engaged in on-site discussions with customers and partners from around the world to explore new opportunities within the Belt and Road digital economy. Moving forward, CTG will continue to leverage its strengths in cloud-network resources, AI technologies, and global services to provide efficient and reliable digital solutions for countries and regions along the route, further advancing the development of the “Digital Silk Road” to new heights.
Through its participation, CTG has fully demonstrated its capabilities as a world-class provider of digital-intelligent technology services in resource integration, technological innovation, and ecosystem influence. This exhibition underscored the company’s firm commitment to empowering high-quality development along the Belt and Road and co-creating a smart future through technological innovation.
SOURCE China Telecom Global
Tools & Platforms
OpenAI to Launch AI-Powered Jobs Platform — Campus Technology
OpenAI to Launch AI-Powered Jobs Platform
OpenAI announced it will launch an AI-powered hiring platform by mid-2026, directly competing with LinkedIn and Indeed in the professional networking and recruitment space. The company announced the initiative alongside an expanded certification program designed to verify AI skills for job seekers.
The OpenAI Jobs Platform will use artificial intelligence algorithms to match candidates with employers based on demonstrated AI competencies rather than traditional resume keywords. The platform targets businesses seeking workers proficient in automation, prompt engineering, and AI implementation across various industries.
OpenAI is collaborating with major employers, including Walmart and Boston Consulting Group, to develop the platform’s functionality. Walmart, the largest private employer in the United States with 1.6 million workers, will initially provide free certification access to all US employees.
The Texas Association of Business plans to use the platform to connect local employers with candidates capable of supporting IT modernization projects, according to OpenAI’s announcement.
The company is expanding its OpenAI Academy, a free learning platform that has reached over two million users, to offer formal AI certifications. The program will cover skills ranging from basic workplace AI applications to advanced prompt engineering techniques.
Training and certification testing will occur within ChatGPT’s Study Mode, allowing candidates to prepare and complete credentials without leaving the application. OpenAI aims to certify 10 million Americans by 2030.
The initiative positions OpenAI against established players in the professional networking market. LinkedIn maintains over one billion members globally, while Indeed processes 27 hires per minute with 615 million registered job seekers.
The platform also competes with LinkedIn Learning’s educational offerings, potentially creating tension with Microsoft, OpenAI’s primary investor, with a reported $13 billion stake. Microsoft has previously identified OpenAI as a competitor in specific business segments despite their partnership.
Labor market data support OpenAI’s focus on AI competencies. Research by Lightcast analyzing over one billion job postings found that positions requiring AI skills offer salaries averaging 28% higher than comparable roles without such requirements. Jobs demanding multiple AI skills command premiums up to 43% above standard compensation levels.
The demand spans industries as companies integrate artificial intelligence into operations for task automation, data analysis, and product development. Employers increasingly seek workers capable of practical AI application rather than advanced technical programming skills.
The platform will allow employers to describe requirements in natural language, with AI systems identifying candidates who demonstrate relevant capabilities through portfolio work and practical experience. This approach differs from traditional keyword-based matching systems used by existing job platforms.
OpenAI’s system aims to surface candidates based on actual project experience and demonstrated competencies rather than resume optimization techniques commonly used on current platforms, the company said.
About the Author
John K. Waters is the editor in chief of a number of Converge360.com sites, with a focus on high-end development, AI and future tech. He’s been writing about cutting-edge technologies and culture of Silicon Valley for more than two decades, and he’s written more than a dozen books. He also co-scripted the documentary film Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, which aired on PBS. He can be reached at [email protected].
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