Fitbit’s founders have launched an artificial intelligence platform to help families monitor their health

Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman have announced the launch of a new AI startup called Luffu that aims to help families proactively monitor their health. The duo is developing a “smart family care system” that will start with an app trial and then expand to devices.

Two years after exiting Google, Park and Friedman are betting on artificial intelligence to help ease the mental burden of caregiving. According to a recent report, 63 million people, or nearly 1 in 4, of U.S. adults are family caregivers, an increase of 45% from 10 years ago.

Luffu uses AI in the background to collect and organize family information, learn daily patterns, and report noticeable changes so families can stay together and address potential well-being issues.

“At Fitbit, we focused on personal health, but after Fitbit, health for me became bigger than just thinking about myself,” Park said in a press release. “I was caring for my parents from across the country, and trying to piece together my mother’s health care across various portals and providers, with a language barrier that made it difficult to get full, timely context from her about doctor visits. I didn’t want to be constantly checking, and she didn’t want to feel monitored. Luffu is the product we wished existed — to stay on top of our family’s health, know what’s changed and when to intervene — without hovering.”

The pair point out that today’s consumer health market is full of gadgets intended for individuals, but true health is shared between partners, children, parents, pets and caregivers. Family information is distributed across devices, portals, calendars, attachments, spreadsheets, and paper documents.

With Luffu, people will be able to track details of the entire family, including health stats, diet, medications, symptoms, lab tests, doctor visits, and more. Users can record health information using audio, text, or images. Luffu proactively monitors changes, displaying insights and alerts, such as unusual vitals or changes in sleep.

The couple told Axios that people can ask questions using plain language to ask about their family’s health, such as “Does Dad’s new meal plan affect his blood pressure?” Or “Did anyone give the dog his medication?”

“We designed Luffu to capture details as life happens, keeping family members in the loop and showing them what matters at the right time — so caregiving feels more coordinated and less chaotic,” Friedman said in the press release.

People interested in LuVo can join the waiting list for the limited public beta.