Event: Said A.I. Saved Me

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.‘They Said A.I. Saved Me’: How South Korea Is Checking on Its SeniorsIn the world’s fastest aging society, artificial intelligence is being used to make care calls to older adults who live alone and to fight dementia.VideoFor Park Jong-yeol, an 81-year-old Vietnam War veteran, the call service bot has become a fixture in his daily fight against illness and cognitive decline, reminding him to eat well, take his medication and stay social.CreditCredit...Woohae Cho for The New York TimesApril 28, 2026, 12:01 a.m. ETChung Yun-hee awoke to a body in revolt. Drenched in sweat and wracked with pain, the septuagenarian crawled into the bathroom of her small, quiet apartment on the outskirts of Seoul. She was still hunched over the toilet, vomiting, when her smartphone rang.A bright, articulate female voice asked how she was doing. Ms. Chung managed a few strained words — too sick to talk — and hung up.Help ​arrived anyway. The caller​, an A.I. chatbot nicknamed “Talking ​Buddy,” immediately alerted a social worker. Within hours, ​Ms. Chung was in surgery for an acute hernia.“Doctors said I could have been in serious trouble had I arrived any later,” Ms. Chung, 77, recalled of the episode in late 2024. “They said A.I. saved me.”ImageChung Yun-hee passed the tulip field that she cultivates with friends at an elderly center in Bucheon, South Korea.Credit...Woohae Cho for The New York TimesSouth Korea is aging faster than any other nation. In ​a mere 15 years, the number of people over 65 has doubled to more than a fifth of the population. The country does not have enough doctors, social workers or family caregivers to support its elderly. Artificial intelligence…