Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash
If you were planning to live out the rest of your days without ever having to deal with Artificial Intelligence, you’re already too late.
For starters, you’ve already been using it if you ever asked Alexa for a weather report, registered a complaint or a question with a customer service chatbot, booked a rideshare, or operated a smart home device. (According to a 2025 AARP survey, 60% of American adults aged 50 or older use a smart device to help with Security, utilities, appliances, or lighting.) As further evidence of AI’s arrival, check out this account in The New York Times of a writer’s unsuccessful attempt to live an AI-free existence for 48 hours.
And if you haven’t used AI yet, just wait. AI applications will be in our faces as we continue to age. Why? Because there is no other way to provide the services we will expect and demand. The caregiver shortage was already an immense problem, and the Trump administration’s immigration policies have driven it to crisis levels. Whether you age in place or find care in an institution, short-staffed caregivers will involve AI in your care out of necessity. So you might as well get ready.
“AI Technology today is being used in all care settings to solve labor-intensive problems like paperwork and documentation,” according to Laurie Orlov’s Aging and Health Technology Watch. That includes booking appointments, managing patients’ medications, updating medical records, and similar tasks. Additionally, AI devices predict health risks (of falls, for example), compiling data from multiple sensors to detect issues before they become crises.
Orlov notes that 90% of adults aged 65 and older are online and own smart phones, so they are accustomed to issuing voice commands and getting results. Because the Baby Boom generation is so tech savvy, she writes, voice-enabled AI “will continue to find a ready market,” and “AI will increasingly be a part of their lives.”
On the more exotic side, virtual reality applications offer older adults the thrill of visiting foreign countries, surfing, or skydiving. Proponents say the technology can decrease isolation and loneliness.
If some products now in their early stages prove their value, our future may feature AI applications such as these:
Eyeglasses with audio technology built into the frames, filtering background noise, amplifying voices, and feeding them directly into the ears.
Digital “twins” of the human body and individual organs, which can be used to safely test new drugs, mapping their effects without risk to humans.
Voice-activated information (think Alexa) installed in the rooms of assisted living residents, providing information about menu options, activities, and current events.
An enhancement of Apple Watch that enables users to control lamps, computers, or iPads with a turn of the hand or simple finger movements – a potential game-changer for those with severe Arthritis or mobility issues.
Robot companions that engage older adults in conversation, play games, or offer support for physical Exercise.
Those same robot companions are triggering ethical concerns. AI companions may be valuable tools to encourage independence and counteract loneliness and isolation. But some in the medical community wonder whether relying heavily on AI companions might cause older adults to forego human connections or, worse, lose their autonomy in making decisions. The recent case of a teen whose AI companion encouraged his successful suicide shows how critical it is to construct AI systems with internal safeguards and accurate, objective information. Another worrisome issue is how to keep patients’ personal health information private.
But technology isn’t waiting to resolve those concerns before bounding ahead into the brave new world of machine learning. It’s too late to question the need for AI. That horse has left the barn.
