Paloma — Madrid's AI Outreach System for Detecting Unwanted Loneliness in Older Residents

Between 28 November and 8 December 2023, Madrid City Council's Department of Social Policies, Family and Equality ran a pilot called Paloma, an empathetic AI voice assistant phoning residents aged 75 and over who live alone.

To identify unwanted loneliness among older residents living alone and flag cases for human social workers, explicitly designed as a 'first filter' rather than a decision-maker.

The assistant phoned 5,163 residents, reached 2,937, and completed full conversations with 2,071, logging more than 113 hours of AI-conducted dialogue.

646 people (about one in three who answered the closing question) indicated they wanted follow-up support, and roughly one in three contacted residents acknowledged unwanted loneliness despite 85% saying they had family or friends available. Social workers classified 602 of the 646 as lower risk and enrolled them in a municipal social-integration programme, reaching 378 (63%); 236 accepted a home visit and 143 visits were completed. The remaining 44 were judged higher risk and referred for full in-person assessment.

On the strength of the pilot, Madrid approved 'Paloma 2.0,' a €523,000 service planning roughly 337,000 identification/follow-up calls, extending eligibility to residents 65+ and adding a four-level severity classification, scheduled to launch September 2026. No independent academic evaluation of either phase has been published, and outcome data on actual reductions in loneliness (rather than call/referral volumes) has not yet been reported.