Recently, a report came out that indicated that a “substantial” portion of the elderly population was adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and allowing it to play a significant role in the application of their senior care.
Right now, the AI that we are seeing used on a widespread basis is more of a language tool than anything. ChatGPT is a prime example of this. This tool can help write out answers to questions and format them in unique ways because it is a language model, but widespread AI cannot provide senior care. While a large number of people might expect this technology to be helpful when it comes to their future care, we’re not quite there yet.
So, what exactly was the above named report referring to? A Long Term Care survey by the Nationwide Insurance Company found some interesting things out when it comes to people’s attitudes and expectations regarding AI and their own aging.
They found that 35 percent of those surveyed would allow a robot to assist them with activities of daily living, such as getting dressed and moving around throughout the house. Younger people were much more likely to be okay with this–52 percent of the millennial generation stated that they would be okay with this while older people were much less likely to accept this kind of help.
About 63 percent of seniors that were interviewed for this survey did state that they would welcome using AI if it could automatically alert someone if a fall or another catastrophic injury took place. We have already seen this technology come into play in a limited fashion. Sensors can detect things like falls and not getting out of bed. These can trigger an automated call to emergency teams so that senior safety can be prioritized.
There were some things that were quite concerning about the results of this survey that don’t directly relate to AI. For example, about 18 percent stated that they have long term care insurance–when in reality about 3 percent actually did have this insurance. A majority of survey takers also admitted to being confused about how senior care worked. Our seniors deserve better information than this.
It remains to be seen exactly what the long term impact of AI is going to be. There’s a lot of potential for what it can do, but there are also unanswered questions. Regardless of how advanced AI might become, the fact remains that AI can never perfectly replicate human contact. People are supposed to be around other people. While there’s a lot that technology can do, it can’t be human. We need others in order to be at our best.
Likewise, seniors in need of care need to be around other people in order to be at their best.
If you have questions about how in-home care can help connect your elderly loved one to personalized, in-person care, we’re happy to talk more with you. We offer free consultation sessions designed to help answer your questions and get you pointed in the right direction. You and your family deserve good information when it comes to care–we can help.
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