When AI Listens and Learns: Helping Communities on Their Terms

AI is helping patients fight denied insurance claims and supporting older adults through simple tools like landline companions—showing business teams how to innovate with empathy.

An 82-year-old calls her landline and talks to an AI companion. No app, no smartphone, no setup. Just a conversation. It’s a reminder that some of the most meaningful AI innovations aren’t about bigger models or faster chips—they’re about fitting quietly into real lives.

In public health, researchers are pushing for AI systems designed with communities rather than for them—so they reflect local voices and avoid reinforcing inequities. This shift is less about algorithms and more about trust.

One concrete example is Counterforce Health, a startup in Durham, NC. It uses AI to help patients appeal denied insurance claims—a process that overwhelms many people and often determines whether they get the care they need. By generating appeal letters and organizing evidence, the system tips the balance toward individuals navigating opaque healthcare bureaucracies.

Another is CareYaya Health Technologies, which is building AI tools that reduce loneliness and support older adults. Their “QuikTok” service lets seniors call an AI companion from a landline phone—no smartphone required—while other projects integrate AI with wearables and smart glasses to provide memory prompts and assist people with dementia.

These are not futuristic visions of robotic caregivers. They are quiet, human-centered innovations that make dignity, connection, and fairness more accessible in everyday life.

Why It Matters

For companies and innovators, these stories are more than feel-good anecdotes — they’re strategic signals about how AI adoption succeeds (or fails):

• Design with, not for. Counterforce and CareYaya succeed because they’re solving real friction points — denied claims, isolation — with input from the people affected. The best AI products come from co-creation, not top-down design.
• Simplify the interface. CareYaya’s “AI via landline phone” shows that innovation isn’t about flashy UI — it’s about meeting people where they are. The lowest-barrier entry point often wins.
• AI as empowerment, not replacement. Both examples amplify human agency instead of automating people away. Tools that reduce friction, boost fairness, or restore dignity build loyalty and long-term trust.
• Small scale, high impact. These aren’t moonshots — they’re focused applications in messy, underserved areas. Often, the durable value comes from solving overlooked problems at the edges.

Takeaway: The competitive edge isn’t just having AI — it’s applying it where it matters most to people, in ways that are empathetic, accessible, and trust-building.