CrossSense, an AI platform embedded in smart glasses, won the £1 million Longitude Prize on Dementia for technology aimed at helping people with cognitive decline remain independent. The system—fronted by a chatty assistant called Wispy—delivers real-time verbal prompts and floating text to guide daily tasks, with a smartphone version due later this year and glasses targeted for early 2027. Pricing is expected at about £50 a month for software and up to £1,000 for hardware, with pilots planned for late 2026 and eventual distribution hopes through the U.K.’s National Health Service. An early, non–peer-reviewed study reported large gains in object naming accuracy, though outside experts flagged the need for larger trials, ethical safeguards over data collection, and practical hurdles such as one-hour battery life. The push comes as dementia prevalence is projected to reach roughly 150 million people globally by 2050.
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