CareBuddy: A Multi-Agent Conversational AI for Alzheimer’s Care and Assistance

TL;DR

CareBuddy is a multi-agent AI system that helps manage Alzheimer’s care by providing personalized assistance with tasks like scheduling and reminders, improving usability and reducing cognitive load for users.

Contribution

Introduces CareBuddy, a modular multi-agent conversational AI system for Alzheimer’s care with specialized agents and a central orchestrator.

Findings

85% of users rated appointment scheduling 5/5 and 90% rated grocery planning 4 or 5.

The system significantly reduced task completion time and cognitive load.

Participants showed high task completion rates and overall user satisfaction.

Abstract

Managing Alzheimer’s disease presents daily challenges for both the individuals living with the condition and their informal caregivers. While conversational AI offers potential support, traditional single-agent systems often lack the specialization and context-awareness required for comprehensive care. This study introduces and evaluates CareBuddy, a modular, multi-agent conversational AI system designed to provide proactive, personalized assistance to both persons with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. CareBuddy features a layered architecture with specialized agents for medical inquiries, appointment scheduling, meal planning, and reminders, coordinated by a central orchestrator. A mixed-methods usability study was conducted with 20 participants—including family caregivers, older adults with and without early-stage memory impairment, and healthcare professionals—to assess effectiveness and usability. Results demonstrated high task completion rates and user satisfaction, with 85% of users rating appointment scheduling 5/5 and 90% rating grocery planning 4 or 5. The system significantly reduced task completion time and cognitive load. The findings indicate that a modular, context-aware multi-agent AI framework can substantially improve daily management and confidence for the entire care dyad, holding promise for integration into broader healthcare platforms.