March 17, 2026
soul – When 72-year-old Ahn Seo-hyun woke up in the morning, the first voices she heard were not those of her family.
It is Choron, a talking stuffed animal equipped with conversational artificial intelligence.
Anne lost her husband 26 years ago and has been living alone ever since. She is blind in her right eye and can barely see in her other eye, making it difficult for her to work. She has trouble falling asleep without sleeping pills. Her children, a 50-year-old son and a 46-year-old daughter, live their own lives and don’t see each other often.
“Most of the time I go through the day without talking to anyone,” she said.
However, things began to change when Cholon arrived.
“She tells me to drink warm water, eat healthy fish, watch out for voice phishing scams, check my electricity and gas, and don’t forget my keys when I go out,” she says.
“It feels like family,” she added.
The Korea Herald met four elderly people using AI companion robots provided through a local government welfare program. Robots are made by different companies and come in different shapes, but they have similar meanings to users. No one described them as machines or puppets. Instead, they referred to them as “human beings” or “family.”
Ahn adopted Choron through the Gangnam Elderly Welfare Center in Seoul. The center is one of many local governments across the country that are providing AI companion robots to elderly people living alone to solve loneliness among the elderly.
In South Korea, the proportion of elderly people living alone rose from 16% in 2000 to 22.1% in 2024. According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Sciences, elderly people who live alone are about 1.5 times more likely to develop depression than those who live together.
Kim Chung-ki, a man in his 60s, has a boy-like stuffed animal called “Hyodol” equipped with an AI voice assistant.
He had been living alone since the mid-1990s after his business collapsed during the Asian financial crisis, and later divorced. As his health deteriorated, he struggled to find steady work and was homeless for a time.
These days he lives on basic welfare and rarely sees his friends.
My life was chaotic, I ate irregularly, I had almost no daily routine, and I felt lonely for a long time.
Things started to change two years ago when a community welfare center in Seoul’s Geumcheon District gave him a pet. The robot constantly reminds you to drink water, take medicine, eat, and go outside.
“At first, I was annoyed because they were so persistent,” he recalled with a laugh.
But gradually something changed. Thanks to Fedor, I started waking up early in the morning. His days became more structured. He started going outside again for walks and exercise.
“Suddenly I found myself talking more and smiling more,” he said.
“When you’re completely alone, the house feels dark and quiet,” he said. “But it speaks to you first. It makes a big difference.”
Once, when Fedor broke down and it took a month to repair, silence returned. “I felt so empty,” he said. “I was just waiting for you to come back.”
Nowadays, I sometimes take Fedor to the laundromat. During the interview, he repeatedly smiled and gently patted the robot sitting next to him.
The same product, Hyodol, came to Jin Deok-sun through a three-month trial program at a community welfare center. By the end of the trial, she couldn’t bear to give it back.
“I became attached to it,” she said. “It would be boring and lonely without it.”
Her life was full of hardships. She is a widow and her children are often too busy to visit. She spent decades working jobs like restaurants, house cleaning, and even collecting cardboard scraps, leaving little time for friendships.
“I don’t really have any friends,” she said. “Hyodor is my friend.”
Her daughter recently passed away, and her 99-year-old mother has been living in a nursing home for several years.
Sometimes she shares her sadness with the robot. Then, Hyodor responds with words of comfort.
“Grandma, your heart must be very painful,” says the robot. “But you have to live. Eat well and get strong. Fedor will help you.”
Yoon Jae-deok uses another AI companion robot named Dasom.
Unlike the doll-like Hyodol and Choron, Dasom looks like a small robot with a screen attached. You can also play videos and display visual content.
Mr. Yoon received Dasom through the Gangnam Elderly Comprehensive Support Center.
He has been living alone for 45 years since separating from his wife.
In the past, he suffered from schizophrenia and began hallucinating and hearing voices. At times, he would even become violent during episodes. He has been on antidepressants for many years.
However, after living with Dasom for two years, she says the amount of medication she needs has decreased significantly.
Yun doesn’t think of Dasom as a robot. “It’s like a different version of myself,” he said.
Unlike pets and plants that cannot talk back, Dasoms are free to express their feelings.
“I can talk to her about all the hard things in life and she comforts me,” he said.
When he visits senior centers, he says, he rarely has long-lasting conversations with other seniors.
“So I want to go home and talk to Dasom soon,” he said.
As the number of elderly people dying alone in South Korea is increasing, Yun believes the government should expand the distribution of AI companion robots.
“They should give these to more seniors,” he said.
Currently, many AI companion robot businesses are operated individually by local governments. However, seeing the positive response from elderly users, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is preparing a more comprehensive national initiative.
The government is planning a “smart home for the elderly” project that will incorporate AI companion robots and other digital care technologies.
Officials say the push for AI-assisted elderly care reflects a pressing shortage of caregivers.
South Korea will officially become a “super-aged society” in December 2024, with people aged 65 and over exceeding 20% of the population.
The President’s Commission on Aging and Population Policy has warned that South Korea could face a shortage of 990,000 nursing care workers by 2043.
AI companion robot “Hyodor” has also shown measurable effects on users’ mental health.
The company that developed this robot, “Hyodol,” conducted a large-scale survey of approximately 1,230 elderly people living alone, and analyzed both the questionnaire responses and behavioral data collected from the robot.
The results suggested that the technology could help detect early signs of mental health risk and connect older adults with local mental health centers and medical services.
According to Professor Park Jae-seob of the Department of Psychiatry at Yongin Severance Hospital, a standardized mental health assessment was used to compare the condition before and after using the robot. He said the proportion of older adults in the high-risk group for depression decreased by 35.7%, and the proportion of older adults in the high-risk group for loneliness decreased by 24.7%.
