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People with dementia are increasingly expected to live at home for longer. To support them, assistant professor Shihan Wang is developing an AI system that helps people in the early stages of dementia remember when it’s time to eat or take their medication.

Currently, around 290,000 people in the Netherlands are living with dementia. Only a small proportion of them – approximately 80,000 – reside in care or nursing homes. Due to an ageing population, the number of people with dementia is expected to rise in the coming years, while the number of people working in healthcare is decreasing.

To address this societal challenge, it is important that individuals with early-stage dementia are able to live safely at home for as long as possible. A smart, AI-powered virtual assistant at home could be a valuable aid. Shihan Wang, assistant professor in Intelligent Systems, has received a €330,000 grant from ClickNL to develop such an intelligent, conversational home care system.

Adapted to personal preferences

“This system can help people in the early stages of dementia remember when it is time to eat or drink, or take their medication,” says Wang. “The aim is to use reinforcement learning and large language models to deliver tailored interventions that adapt to an individual’s personal preferences and needs, and respond to them – through conversations, possibly combined with light, images or music.” In this way, it supports users in maintaining their daily routines and assists informal carers and family members in their caregiving roles.

The project builds on earlier research by Wang, conducted in collaboration with external partners and Hogeschool van Amsterdam, which explored the potential of an AI-driven home care system. Wang explains: “Thanks to AI, there are many technical possibilities for providing personalised care, but the interaction between humans and computers is often overlooked. Especially for vulnerable individuals, such as those with early-stage dementia, personalised and relevant interaction is absolutely crucial for delivering quality care.”