A new study by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and Integrated System Technologies Ltd has developed a low-cost, privacy-preserving home monitoring system that could help older people live independently for longer. The technology combines millimetre-wave radar, thermal sensors and smart plugs, using artificial intelligence to build a picture of a person's daily routines and identify potential health emergencies such as falls, strokes and heart attacks, without relying on cameras or wearable devices.

The researchers found that integrating data from all three technologies provided the most accurate monitoring of movement, posture and everyday activities. By learning an individual's normal behaviour patterns, the system can detect sudden emergencies as well as gradual declines in mobility or wellbeing, alerting carers or family members when intervention may be needed. The team believes the technology could form part of future assisted-living homes, enabling older adults to remain safely in their own homes while protecting their privacy.

Most of us now carry in our pockets devices capable of running small AI chatbots. These chatbots have little safety oversight to ensure they don’t provide information and answers with the potential to encourage self-harm, financial loss, or other extremist notions—especially when operating offline. Now, a team of two physicists publishing in the Cell Press journal Patterns on October 8 have developed a mathematical formula that predicts when AI models will switch from appropriate responses to potentially dangerous ones.