Amazon's Alexa has a new role: helping seniors and caregivers. On Tuesday, Amazon launched Alexa Together in an effort to help aging consumers and family members or friends who assist in caring for them. The subscription service requires an Alexa-supported device such as an Amazon Echo speaker or the Echo Show. The service includes an urgent response option giving users access to a 24/7 emergency hotline when they say "Alexa, call for help." From there, a trained professional can request police, fire department or an ambulance.

As populations age, more and more people are asking how best to organise care for the elderly in future. Trained staff will be important, as will technology and innovation – which may include artificial intelligence (AI). Some people get fearful when talk turns to AI, a topic riddled with misconceptions. At the end of the day, what it means is the attempt to map human decisions using computers, says Andreas Hein, an expert in assistance systems at Oldenburg University in Germany. In a medicine or health care setting, that means providing doctors and nurses suggestions that a computer has created based on data.

ARTIFICIAL intelligence and algorithms could help enhance care in the Wee County while freeing up council staff from administrative burdens. Technology is going to play an increasingly important part in Clackmannanshire Council's organisational redesign, which underpins the budget agreed at the end of last month. The local authority is looking to use digital technologies to improve its efficiency and free up staff to work on more complex areas. Documents tabled at Kilncraigs explained that technology will be used to "improve the accessibility of public services through the use of enhanced online facilities, and to process high volumes of transactional enquiries by automating such systems". During the budget meeting, Councillor Helen Lewis explained that "the buzzword is algorithms" and that technology can allow the council to use data to keep people safer or to enable earlier and more effective interventions.

Soul Machines has discussed services for the elderly with prospective clients but has not announced any partnerships on that subject to date, says chief business officer Greg Cross. Soul Machines envisions a future in which digital instructors educate students without access to quality human teachers, and in which famous deceased artists are digitally resurrected to discuss their works in museums. Robot companions for the infirm, then, are not too far a leap. Nor is the prospect of a future in which a family converses with the lively AI recreation of a person suffering from dementia, while a caregiver--robot or human--tends to their ailing body in another room. The potential for deception is already here. A few years ago, Brent Lawson, the president of 1 AM Dolls, a manufacturer of life-sized rubber sex dolls, was on the phone with a client who wanted a specific doll he'd seen on the company's website. The man was particularly concerned that the doll's hair was just so, and peppered Lawson with questions about the color and style, Lawson told Quartz.

Aifloo, a Swedish startup that combines hardware sensors and AI to offer a'smart wristband' to help care for the elderly, has raised €5.1 million in new funding. The Series A round is led by EQT Ventures, with the VC firm's Analytics Partner, Henrik Landgren, citing the team and technology as reasons to invest, noting that the e-health company is marrying "vast amounts of data and modern AI" to help elderly people remain living independently for longer. Founded by Felix Etzler, Michael Collaros and Anders Widgren in 2015, Aifloo is described as an e-health system designed to improve the quality of life for the elderly and provide peace of mind for relatives and caregivers. The hardware is a wristband packed full of sensors and the AI monitors the wearer's behaviour so as to alert caregivers of any potentials issues. These are cited as things like trips or falls, alterations in eating habits, and changes in sleep behaviour.

In the hopes of relieving building pressures in hospitals and care homes, researchers are developing'culturally aware' robots. The emotional machines could help care for the elderly, assisting them in taking their medications and offering them companionship. Researchers have been awarded £2 million ($2.5 million) in funding to develop the bots over the next three years. In the hopes of relieving building pressures in hospitals and care homes, researchers are developing'culturally aware' robots. Pepper went on sale to consumers in Japan in June 2015 and then enterprise customers, who pay for the bot on a three-year rental basis worth around $16,000 (£12,188.80),