CONTEXT
We hope to help children left behind because of war.
Since 2001 more than 3 million children in the world have had one of their parents deployed and thousands of them lost a Parent because of war.
These children experience high rates of mental health problems. With 1 in 4 reported to have considered suicide. Twice as likely as non-military kids. It’s a harsh reality that seems impossible to avoid because the world has been at war EVERY day for the past 100 years. Humans have only been at peace for 8% of its 3,400 years recorded history. That is 93% of the time.
To make matters worse, military spending for the largest armies in the world is now the highest ever. Considering the current state of affairs, we are on the verge of a BIG WAR.
Ai Buddy is a set of animated characters powered by Artificial Intelligence that give support to kids while their parents are deployed to war, or if they don’t make it back.
Ai Buddy stays in contact throughout the day, sending messages to any smart device, constantly checking physical inputs to detect possible emergencies and using the information available online to help with homework. A life-size version plays with them through VR, or puts them to sleep with a bedtime story. At the end of the day, it shares updates about the kids with the rest of the family to make sure they have a pulse on the emotional and physical well-being of the kid.
If the parent passed away, Ai Buddy will help with the transition and it will deactivate after a careful process, once the child is psychologically ready to let it go.