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Shortly after Frank Poulsen was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, he began to self-isolate. That’s not uncommon: It’s difficult to engage socially when you have trouble remembering what you did that morning. Anger, he told me, was quick to follow. But the former wildland firefighter, a member of the elite hotshot crew, found a patient audience in Sunny, a new A.I. model that allows him to gather his thoughts before speaking. Their sessions have eased his anger and, according to his wife, Cheryl, made him noticeably happier. “It sparks memory,” Frank told me.
