Exploring AI Smart Home Aging-in-Place: Use Cases to Empower Individuals with MCI and Their Carepartners

Abstract: Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) presents a critical juncture between normal cognitive aging and dementia, necessitating tailored interventions for individuals and their informal caregivers (carepartners). As cognitive decline progresses, individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) often require greater assistance with everyday tasks and increased support from their carepartners through prompts and shifting of task responsibility. This evolving dynamic often leads to a heightened burden on caregivers. In order to understand these challenges and how they may be addressed, we employed commercially available smart home technologies with an integrated, AI-powered mobile application as a technology probe in n =13 homes. The dyads consisted of carepartners as spouses, siblings, and adult children with different caregiving arrangements (i.e. cohabitating, adjacent living, remote). Technologies to infer daily activities, such as hygiene, sleep, and meal prep, were installed in homes prior to introducing the smarthome app, providing time for the system to learn. Dyads were then trained on key features of the AI smarthome app and notifications were customized based on individual needs and preferences. Multiple follow-up interviews were conducted at intervals of at least a month to assess app usability, usefulness, user preferences, perceived safety at home and unsupported needs. Results indicated nuanced patterns of app usage based on factors such as caregiver proximity in relation to living arrangements, extent of MCI progression, and individual tech proficiency. The AI smarthome application effectively addressed some concerns for both individuals with MCI and their carepartners around home safety, specifically in relation to exterior doors left open and wandering, as well as medication adherence. The study also demonstrated where AI-driven insights can go wrong, for example, frustrations arose from inaccuracies around the system's inability to distinguish occupants and accurately assess home occupancy. This paper describes use cases underscoring the potential of AI-driven smart home technologies to address the unique challenges faced by individuals with MCI and their carepartners in order to foster independence and enable safe aging-in-place. These use cases were derived from both the analysis of feedback sessions as well as dyad-specific observational data that contextualizes interview findings by providing a deeper understanding of participants’ preferences and concerns.This research contributes to the field by offering practical implications and future considerations for AI-based interventions, including: unique user needs necessitating greater personalization, dyad living arrangements, and seamless integration with existing technologies. Future work will involve codesigning and developing such interventions with dyads.

Keywords: MCI, mild cognitive impairment, artificial intelligence, smart home, interventions, aging-in-place, activity monitoring, home safety, technology probe

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1004888

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