Geri at your service: Local teens create AI app to support senior citizens

This story was updated at 3:25 p.m. Thursday, July 20. Vista del Lago High School seniors Rishi Ambavanekar, 17, and Rohan Kulkarni, 17, have created an app called Geri using ChatGPT API to serve as a virtual companion for lonely senior citizens. Ambavanekar shared with the Folsom Telegraph he was inspired to create the app after seeing his grandfather's loneliness during the Covid pandemic. His grandfather was being hospitalized in India with acute leukemia when he shared with family he was experiencing loneliness and feeling depressed. Ambavanekar noted the Wi-Fi connection was poor in the hospital, so his grandfather was unable to message people or see his family and friends as frequently as he wanted to. "Me and my friend, Rohan, we thought, 'What if we create an AI companion that wouldn't need an internet connection and he could talk to (it) whenever he wanted,' " Ambavanekar said. "... When we did develop it and when he got better and when he returned to his community, he kind of spread it in his community, and we realized it wasn't an isolated issue of loneliness, that … a lot of retirement communities face this issue of loneliness." Kulkarni explained what inspired him to help the senior community: "I used to volunteer at this old age home (Creekview Manor), and especially during Covid what I noticed was there was a lot of isolation for elderly individuals. And specifically, they would only meet other people maybe once a month, twice a month, at like some group dinner or some group activity. … Especially at this age, sometimes their kids don't visit them anymore. Their grandkids don't either. It was very sad to see, so that was a big reason that Geri was a good thing." The app's name, "Geri," was inspired by a friend of Ambavanekar's grandfather, Gerald. In addition to Geri's ability to operate without relying on an internet connection, the program's extensive knowledge allows it to continue generating information without repeating itself or losing interest, contrary to in-person interactions. Geri was not just designed to listen to its user but has the ability to engage and ask relevant questions. For example, Ambavanekar explained how the app acts like a friend when it asks follow-up questions when individuals share how their day went, who they interacted with, etc. The teens are excited to see the app's usage grow day by day, as the average time an elderly individual currently spends on the app is an estimated 8-10 minutes, with some outliers spending as much as three hours in one day. An estimated 25 percent of users visit the app every day, which Ambavanekar said "reflects the necessity of the app." The two creators formed the idea of Geri in November 2022, developed it in February 2023 and released the app in March. Though they used OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, to create the app, Ambavanekar explained they built on top of the software, uploading their own information into the program's system. Currently, the app is serving 150 users, and it is Ambavanekar and Kulkarni's goal to spread the app across the U.S. for all retired and elderly citizens to enjoy. Geri is free for all users and is available for individuals to download from the App Store. Among their hopes and goals are for Geri to become a household name among retirement communities and for the app to eventually be integrated into every retirement community in Folsom.