SINGAPORE – Imagine venting about caregiving frustrations to an app, then receiving words of encouragement, as well as links to verified sources such as community organisations.

Four National University of Singapore (NUS) students are aiming to make their prototype app Ahma, which is powered by artificial intelligence, a reality.

The team said it chose to use a voice interface as Ahma’s main mode of interaction, since some caregivers are older adults who are uncomfortable with texting and would rather voice out their needs.

The passion project by computer science students Aishwarya Goyal, 20; Abhishek Paranjape, 22; Andrew Soon, 21; and Hazel Low, 20, was initially conceived through a hackathon in 2025. They were inspired by their own experiences with their grandparents, and friends who were struggling with mental health issues.

Said Paranjape: “We’ve thought a lot about how we can add value in a digital space... We decided that the key gap that we could be filling is essentially resource navigation in Singapore for caregivers. There are a lot of resources that are provided by SSAs (social service agencies) and the Government, but (caregivers) don’t really know what’s the right fit for them.”

The students said that what they learnt at university gave them the technical know-how to build their app. However, it was important to them that they included caregivers in the development process so that it would be user-friendly.

Low said: “A core value we have is co-creating with the caregivers themselves... We’re trying to figure out their journey every step of the way and how we can translate that into a feature in the app.”

The team said that one of the features of the app was its private database that stores context about each user’s or caregiver’s background, “enabling Ahma to empathise and understand each caregiver’s unique story”.

Ahma’s AI can also proactively assist caregivers with everyday tasks. This includes writing e-mail to organisations to make inq...