How many important conversations never happen simply because the right moment never comes? From this simple, disarming observation, Alight was born: an AI device designed by Morrama design studio not to capture data, but to create the conditions for real human connection.

The project grows out of an internal research initiative on resilience and the value of intergenerational storytelling. The more young people know about their family history, the better equipped they are to face hardship. The stories of the people we love act as a rehearsal for life. The problem is that those conversations tend never to happen — not for lack of affection, but for lack of occasion.

Alight is designed to solve exactly that. Satellite units track movement in the living room and sync with calendar scheduling to identify when the people you love are free and present. Rather than another notification on a screen, the signal comes through light: each family member has their own colour — a soft blue for Mum, a warm green for Granny. A gentle glow that says: she’s home, she’s available. The same quiet reassurance as driving past a house and seeing the lights are on.

Calls are made device to device, or to a phone, with no need to introduce new technology to those who may struggle to adapt. The device is built around voice, not screens: no image of yourself to manage, no distractions, nothing to do but talk and listen. Research from Yale has shown that people read others’ emotions more accurately from voice alone than from video.

When a conversation feels worth keeping, a single press of the record button captures it. All participants are notified. Nothing is stored without consent. Over time, those recordings accumulate into a private, offline archive owned by the family, not a company — capturing not just what was said, but the way those people told a story, worked through a problem, expressed themselves.

Alight engages openly with the ethical objections this kind of technology raises: the risk that a digital replica of someone who has passed might interfere with grief; that people might consult the dead instead of building new relationships with the living; that the model might say something the person never would have. These concerns shaped the product. The model runs offline, no data is shared, and above all: Alight is built first for connection between living people. The archive is a by-product of conversations actually had, not a substitute manufactured after the fact.