AI-powered app detects pre-dementia in seniors; roll-out set for 2026

A new locally developed digital application powered by artificial intelligence (AI) takes less than five minutes to identify seniors with early memory problems or pre-dementia, with an accuracy rate of up to 93 per cent.

- Judith Tan

Patients can use Pensieve-AI to draw pictures on a tablet with a stylus and the app's AI will check different areas of thinking and memory before analysing the drawings for signs of pre-dementia.

It will soon replace current screening tools doctors use to assess for dementia, which include using pen and paper to draw a clock and recalling three random unrelated words, such as banana, sunrise and chair.

A nationwide study of the app completed in September 2024 found that it achieved an accuracy of 93 per cent in detecting pre-dementia, a result that is as good as the current gold standard of detailed cognitive testing.

The results were published in the scientific journal Nature Communications at the end of March.

Pensieve-AI was developed by the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech), and is slated to be rolled out in 2026.