Compassion Finds Its Form: Vallige

Written by: Matt Tullis

I knew instantly that I had touched on something that was borderline magical. The power of a loved one's familiar voice and face can be harnessed to provide comfort at the times when you need it most. It isn't a drug to sedate your loved one, it works incredibly fast, and if it can calm my mom, then it should be able to calm anyone. I also realized that AI Matt is not only me at my best, he can be better than me as he can draw upon decades of research and combine it with infinite patience.

So I kept working on it and building it out until my family could use it with my mom in our own home. We grew the team and brought in more expertise that made the experience even better. In time, we collectively felt we had something robust enough to share with families beyond my own.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive.  We are seeing real effects on whole families as they use the entirety of what we offer that goes far beyond just "AI calls", which have evolved into engaging conversations we named Talkstories. They also use our Moodshifters, which are poems created from their life stories read out loud using voice clones to provide moments of joyful reminiscing. They play games, do exercises, and watch photo slideshows narrated by their loved ones. We implemented a caregiver journal that uses a technology from our partner at Canary Speech to analyze the voice of caregivers to measure wellness and provide preventive screening. I have received some of the best hugs in my entire life from these families.

People often say we are the only ones they know using AI, voice clones or digital twins for good. However, we also encountered those who voiced concerns. One common thread was that we were intentionally deceiving people like my mom by making them think they were speaking with a real person when they weren't. Another concern was that AI agents can be unpredictable and AI Matt might tell my mom to do something dangerous. Some questioned that if it worked well, would I just stop interacting with my mom and hand over my duties as a son to the AI version of myself? These are all super valid and have informed our efforts at Vallige as we focus on our mission to keep people living safely, comfortably, and happily in their own homes for as long as they'd like.

At first, my reaction when hearing these concerns from people was to get defensive and point out that the alternative was that my mom could have another aneurysm. Well, there is far more nuance to the conversation than just that. We will continuously share more of our thinking on these ethical and moral concerns in order to facilitate discussion and guide our thinking, but I want to address a few here and share some of our core beliefs as we begin our journey.

We believe that while Alzheimer's or dementia may destroy your brain, it shouldn't destroy your family. We believe a non-pharmacological intervention that can work almost instantly to calm someone would be amazing and are committed to pursuing it. We believe caregivers are sacred and need to be cared for as much as anyone else. We believe more family members would provide more support if they had a way to do so. We have seen firsthand what a familiar voice or face delivering the right message can do to comfort a person with dementia and we believe in developing our service in a safe manner that respects people living with dementia.

To ensure we were aligning our product with these core beliefs, we began by creating a protocol for a clinical study to measure the effect of our Moodshifters in calming a person with dementia. We funded this study ourselves and worked with the North Star Institutional Review Board to ensure we follow clinical best practices. We have begun that study to gather valuable data on the effectiveness of our product across a population with various levels of cognitive impairment. We are also collecting feedback from caregivers and people with dementia on the use of AI.

At Vallige, we focus on three pillars (our 3 C's): Comforting people with dementia, Caring for caregivers, and Connecting the village. We believe it takes a holistic approach to solving some of the everyday challenges that face families and others caring for people with dementia.

We are just beginning this journey and would love for you to join us. Click here to sign up for our waitlist. For more information on all forms of dementia and caregiving for those living with it, follow us on Instagram at vallige.care.