Paloma / Paloma 2.0 – AI Virtual Assistant for Elderly Loneliness Detection

Overview

Paloma is an AI-enabled virtual assistant developed by Madrid City Council (Ayuntamiento de Madrid) as part of the municipality's strategy to combat unwanted loneliness among elderly residents. The system uses natural language processing (NLP) technology to conduct automated telephone calls that simulate human conversation, enabling proactive outreach to elderly citizens who may be at risk of social isolation.

The initial pilot project ran between 28 November and 8 December 2023. During this period, the system placed calls to a sample of 5,163 persons aged 75 and over who were identified as living alone based on municipal registry data. The sample comprised 70% women and 30% men, with an average age of 81 years. Of those called, 2,937 persons (57%) answered, and 2,071 (71% of respondents) completed the full conversation. In total, the virtual assistant logged 113 hours of dialogue with elderly residents, the majority residing in the districts of Moncloa-Aravaca, Villaverde, and Villa de Vallecas.

The system administered five structured questions designed to assess loneliness risk. The first question asked whether the person often felt lonely, to which 696 out of 2,104 respondents (33%) answered affirmatively — 31% of women and 34% of men. The second question asked whether they had family or friends to talk to when worried; 93% of 1,935 respondents confirmed they did, though notably 85% of those who reported feeling lonely also had such support networks. The third question asked whether they had someone to turn to in case of need, with 88% of 1,872 respondents answering yes; however, 78% of those who felt lonely also had someone available. The fourth question asked whether they went out at least once a week, with 93% of 1,847 respondents saying yes, though 33% of these still reported feelings of loneliness. Among those who did not leave home weekly, 63% received regular visits but 46% still felt lonely, while 61% of those receiving no visits felt lonely. The fifth and final question asked whether they would like a municipal technician to contact them for a situation assessment; 646 persons (35%) accepted this offer.

Following the pilot's initial AI-based detection phase, the municipality deployed professional follow-up interventions. Of the 646 persons who accepted follow-up, 602 who were not considered high-risk received individualized attention through the municipal programme 'Acompañamiento a la integración social de personas mayores que se sienten solas' (Accompaniment for Social Integration of Elderly Persons Who Feel Lonely). Of these, 378 had been contacted and 236 had accepted home visits, of which 143 had been completed at the time of the February 2024 press release. Additionally, 44 persons identified as high-risk were referred for comprehensive assessment by Social Services. Overall, in 84% of home visits conducted, the loneliness situation was confirmed.

The results were presented in February 2024 by José Fernández, the delegate for Social Policies, Family and Equality, as part of the broader Municipal Strategy Against Unwanted Loneliness (Estrategia municipal para combatir la soledad no deseada en las personas mayores). The municipality noted that AI enabled a substantial change in processing complex information in real time while achieving broad reach and adherence.

In November 2025, a scaled-up version called Paloma 2.0 was announced. Paloma 2.0 expands the outreach to 100,000 planned telephone calls and is integrated with the Madrid City Council social history database (historia social del Ayuntamiento de Madrid), enabling more personalized, empathetic, and needs-adapted care. The updated system adapts the frequency of follow-up calls based on the degree of loneliness detected and automatically refers severe cases to specialized services. Paloma 2.0 was a finalist for the European Social Services Awards, presented at a ceremony held in Madrid in November 2025.

Classification

Programme Details

Municipal AI-enabled outreach programme for proactive identification and support of elderly persons (75+) living alone who may be experiencing unwanted loneliness. The programme uses an AI virtual assistant (Paloma/Paloma 2.0) to conduct automated telephone calls, assess loneliness risk through structured questions, and refer identified individuals to appropriate municipal social services including home visits, social integration programmes, and specialised Social Services assessment for high-risk cases.

Implementation Details

Risk & Oversight

Deployment & Outcomes

Sources

1. SRC-003-ESP-002 Lara-Montero, A. (2024) 'The Transformation Potential of AI on Social Services', European Social Network. Available at: https://www.esn-eu.org/news/transformation-potential-ai-social-services (Accessed: 22 March 2026).
   https://www.esn-eu.org/news/transformation-potential-ai-social-services
2. SRC-002-ESP-002 Luengo, A. (2025) 'El sistema de Inteligencia Artificial de Madrid que ayuda a los más mayores con atención personalizada', El Debate, 22 November. Available at: https://www.eldebate.com/espana/madrid/20251122/sistema-inteligencia-artificial-madrid-ayuda-mayores-atencion-personalizada_357740.html (Accessed: 22 March 2026).
   https://www.eldebate.com/espana/madrid/20251122/sistema-inteligencia-artificial-madrid-ayuda-mayores-atencion-personalizada_357740.html
3. SRC-001-ESP-002 Ayuntamiento de Madrid (2024) 'Madrid inicia la atención social a más de 600 mayores en soledad no deseada detectados mediante Inteligencia Artificial', Diario del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, 2 February. Available at: https://diario.madrid.es/blog/notas-de-prensa/madrid-inicia-la-atencion-social-a-mas-de-600-mayores-en-soledad-no-deseada-detectados-mediante-inteligencia-artificial/ (Accessed: 22 March 2026).
   https://www.madrid.es/portales/munimadrid/es/Inicio/Mayores/PALOMA-INTELIGENCIA-ARTIFICIAL-PARA-DETECTAR-LA-SOLEDAD-NO-DESEADA-EN-PERSONAS-MAYORES/?vgnextfmt=default&vgnextoid=54eea881e87e9910VgnVCM100000891ecb1aRCRD&vgnextchannel=cf30b7dd3f7fe410VgnVCM1000000b205a0aRCRD