Can we trust AI to help care for our seniors? | Mai Lee Chang | TEDxOshkosh

TL;DR

Guide dogs and their ability to disobey their owners demonstrate how AI systems supporting older adults must understand paradoxes.

Transcript

so last week at the campus of Carnegie melon University I was walking back to my office and along this route I needed to cross an intersection as I'm approaching this intersection and the light turns red and I also noticed that nearby is in individual who is blind she has a guy dog with her I overheard her conversation that they need to hurry up be... Read More

Key Insights

• 🧓 The aging population and the decline in the number of youth present a problem that AI can help address by supporting older adults.
• 😨 AI systems should be adopted earlier in life stages to provide personalized care and should not be marketed as aids for cognitive decline to avoid invoking anxiety.
• 🧓 Older adults' acceptance of AI support depends on paradoxes related to adoption, appearances, and control.
• 🧓 Bots need to understand boundaries and navigate conflicts of interest and power dynamics in providing support to older adults.
• 🤖 Design implications include marketing bots as productivity aids, understanding mismatched capabilities, and considering appropriate levels of control.
• 🤖 Bots should consider ethical implications, recognizing and avoiding behavior like exploitation, domination, deception, and unjustified paternalism.

Questions & Answers

Q: How are guide dogs relevant to training AI systems?

Guide dogs demonstrate the need for AI systems to understand paradoxes, like when to disobey their owners, to ensure the safety of older adults.

Q: How can AI systems support older adults in their homes?

AI systems can assist with various tasks, including cooking, managing finances, medications, exercises, and coordinating schedules, allowing older adults to age in place.

Q: What are the challenges in designing AI systems for older adults?

Designing AI systems for older adults requires understanding their acceptance of support, which varies based on factors like future decline, appearances, and control.

Q: How can AI systems navigate conflicts of interest and power dynamics?

AI systems must be taught to decipher people's intents and desires, communicate their own intents, and make decisions in collaboration with diverse stakeholders like family members and doctors.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Guide dogs are trained to know when to disobey their owners in order to keep them safe, highlighting the relevance of training AI systems to understand paradoxes.

• AI systems can greatly improve the lives of older adults by assisting with tasks like cooking, managing finances, and coordinating schedules.

• Acceptance of AI support among older adults varies based on factors like future decline, appearances, and control, creating design implications for AI adoption.