In short: Google’s Assistant Investment Program has made a substantial contribution in support of Aiva Health’s end-to-end AI healthcare solutions, according to a recent announcement from the latter company. No financial details have been provided. However, the new funding will be spent on the acceleration of both development and deployment of a new voice OS designed explicitly as a digital ‘care assistant’ for hospitals, nursing homes, and those in need of at-home care. Voice OS is built around a full suite of tools in an enterprise environment specifically to cater to those specialized needs and will work on Google Home, Amazon Echo, and other smart speakers.
Background: This is hardly the first investment Google has made toward AI-driven solutions in the healthcare industry, let along non-AI health solutions. Those have ranged from its own Google Health application and Wear OS software to new iterations of Android including digital wellness tracking and more AI-centric solutions tied to disease detection. With its investment in Aiva, the company is providing resources that the Aiva Health says will empower patients and seniors, acting as a virtual version of a caregiver while also acting as a direct line to their caregivers. That’s all based around a suite of applications and tools that go cross-platform and, on the caregiver side, allow help for performance reporting to be accomplished and help requests to be managed.
It also provides caregivers with a backend for controlling various voice assistant settings and interactivity that form the user-facing side for patients and seniors. On the latter side of things, Aiva’s voice OS gives users an easy way to interact with IoT services and devices in their immediate vicinity. That means they can make phone calls, send messages, request help, control lighting or media, and more with just their voice. Conversely, the OS can remind patients and seniors about medications to take, the events they have scheduled, and other activities.
Impact: Aiva’s overall goal with its voice platform is to continually make the platform better and provide a better standard of living for patients and seniors regardless of whether they’re living at home, in a care facility, or in the hospital. It certainly isn’t the only company pursuing that, with even Google currently looking for an end-to-end solution. But it may be among the first to propose a comprehensive and proprietary solution build solely for ease of use and those functionalities.