Eliza Research

September 2026

Supporting senior independence.

Seniors want autonomy. Families need relief. We're building the agentic software that delivers both.

01 · The problem

A family member becomes the coordinator of an older adult's daily life.

63M
Americans are family caregivers
1 in 4 adults (AARP/NAC 2025)
26 hrs
of unpaid support per week
for the 51M who care for someone 50+
$1T
in unpaid care each year
estimated value, 2024 (AARP)
"It's a full-time job. It's not any one task — it's the volume of tasks." Family caregiver — study interview, Sep 2026

The burden isn't any single task. It's remembering, assigning, and following up across everyone involved.

02 · A real example, from our interviews

One caregiver's week: six days of coordination for 3 dialysis appointments.

1
Ongoing
Schedule
She books his appointments through her own VA login (she's his power of attorney). Dialysis is scheduled a year out.
2
Day before · by 2:30 PM
Wait for the call
Transport is supposed to call her to confirm the ride. She sets an alarm to check the call came.
3
Day before · by 4 PM
Chase
No call? She calls them and waits on hold, sometimes 40 minutes, before the VA closes.
4
Night before
Brief him
She goes over the next day's schedule with him: the appointment, the pickup time, when to call her.
5
Day of
Cover the pickup
If the driver is 15 minutes late, her brother calls her, and she calls to track the driver down.
6
Day of · if it slipped
Recover
The one time the confirmation slipped, she drove roughly 120 miles the next day to get him there and home.

Three treatment days become a six-day-a-week job for her. When we asked what she'd hand off first, this was her answer.

03 · Why today's assistants can't help

AI assistants are built for one person. Senior life involves many.

What AI assistants expect

One personowns accountsdecides · executes
one-to-one
Assistant

How senior life actually works

Seniordecides
asks / approves
Family membercoordination · accounts · IT
Doctors & transportbooks, confirms
Bills & benefitspays, files, renews
Accounts & devicesmanages, protects
Staff & servicesloops in, follows up
Today's AI assistants serve one person. A senior's support comes from many people, and a family member holds it all together.

04 · What we're building — product concept, being validated in research

The same week, with Eliza on the team.

1 · Schedule
Eliza holds the standing schedule, a year of appointments, and knows what tomorrow requires.
2 · Wait for the call
Eliza does the waiting. Transport confirms to Eliza, not to a 2:30 PM alarm in her head.
3 · Chase
If the confirmation hasn't come by 2:30 PM, Eliza makes the call and sits on hold. She gets a text when it's resolved.
4 · Brief him
Eliza calls him to remind him about tomorrow's schedule, and if he wants to check again, he asks Eliza instead of calling his sister.
5 · Cover the day of
When the driver is late, he tells Eliza. Eliza informs his sister and contacts transportation on his behalf, escalating only if a decision is needed or the issue stays unresolved.
6 · Recover
Problems surface at 2:30 PM instead of at pickup time, so the 120-mile day doesn't happen.

Which of these steps families would trust an agent to handle is exactly what our research is validating.

05 · Why this matters now

Families already spend $70B+ a year on senior independence.

$15B
Home modification services
Installing ramps, walk-in showers, stair lifts (Harvard JCHS, U.S.)
$35B
Assistive devices
Walkers, wheelchairs, hearing aids, home hospital beds (IMARC)
$17B
Watch & respond
Medical alert buttons, fall detection, in-home sensors (Towards Healthcare; Dataintelo)
$5B
Connect
Simplified phones and tablets built for seniors, like the Jitterbug (Data Insights Market)

$70B+ buys safety and simplicity. Independence — the coordination behind it — still runs on family labor. And the products aren't landing: 60% of adults 50+ say technology isn't designed with their age in mind, while 71% want age-tailored support (AARP 2026).

06 · Where we are

We're validating the market: paid research is underway.

Interviews
Paid interviews with seniors, family caregivers, care staff, and facility leaders, run with the Own Your Data Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. First interviews completed this week.
Assisted living facility partnerships
Outreach underway to 300+ senior-living communities across greater New York to sign research partners.

Alongside the research, we're raising a $2M seed.

Shaw Walters — Co-founder & CTO, creator of elizaOS.
Camilla Castro — Co-founder & CPO, healthcare product background.

seniorstudy.org  ·  camilla@elizaresearch.ai

Sources on request: U.S. Census · Pew 2025 · AARP/NAC 2025–2026 · Harvard JCHS · IMARC · Towards Healthcare · Dataintelo · Data Insights Market · Eliza Research interviews, Sep 2026

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