“You’re looking for emotion, and AI has no emotion”: Teens develop an app to cope with loneliness

Itai Nadav (17) and eight of his friends developed the Link Up app as part of the “Startupists” program of the “Good Thought” association, aiming to help teenagers cope with loneliness and form friendships through shared interests. The app includes lessons in music, cooking, and fitness, and adapts to the user's learning pace. Nadav explains that talking to AI might actually increase loneliness, so the solution is creating human connections. The development took place in a national hackathon, and the course was held at Mobileye in Jerusalem.

Itai Nadav (17) from Jerusalem, together with eight of his friends, developed the Link Up app, which aims to help teenagers cope with loneliness and form friendships through shared interests. The app, based on artificial intelligence, includes practical lessons in music, cooking, and fitness, and adapts to the user's learning pace. Nadav explains that talking to AI might actually increase loneliness, since “you’re looking for emotion, and AI has no emotion.” The solution, he says, is creating human connections through a shared interest. The development was done as part of the “Startupists” program of the “Good Thought” association, during a national hackathon that took place on Zoom due to the war with Iran. The course was held at Mobileye in Jerusalem, under the guidance of Shira. Nadav talks about the challenges of working in a team, his role in design and data preservation, and his plans to continue with computer studies and a matriculation exam in computers. Tal Israeli, the association's youth programs director, praises the commitment of the teens who attended meetings twice a week. Nadav notes that the course helped him manage time better and gave him an “escape from the reality of the war rounds with Iran.”