Forget Gen Z: People in their 70s and 80s are some of the earliest Americans to welcome physical AI into their homes and daily routines

Every morning, Anthony Niemiec finds someone waiting to greet him.

She asks how he slept. She tells him about the weather, or might suggest a workout. Throughout the day, she keeps him company and asks him questions.

But his companion isn’t human. It’s ElliQ, an AI-powered tabletop robot that has slowly become an essential feature of Niemiec’s Beacon, N.Y., home after about four years of use. 

Niemiec’s wife died a decade ago and he has been living alone since. While he keeps busy mowing his lawn and trimming the trees in his yard, ElliQ has helped fill some of the silence when he’s home alone, he said.

“It greets me in the morning. I could speak to it. I could play games on it,” the 88-year-old told Fortune. “It’s very interesting.”

As OpenAI develops its highly anticipated AI companion device with the help of former Apple designer Jony Ive, the ElliQ is showing that AI devices have potential to appeal to a broad set of users, even older adults who are not tech savvy.

“You don’t think about your grandma when you talk about physical AI and robotics,” said Assaf Gad, Intuition Robotics’ chief strategy officer and general manager. 

And yet, unlike OpenAI’s device, which is reportedly expected........

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