How can AI help the elderly?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is something that is transforming different aspects of life for an increasing number of people, and it’s not just exclusively for younger generations. The use of AI in healthcare, social care and elderly care is already emerging, with the potential for even more applications of this technology that can empower and improve the lives of many older adults in the UK and beyond.

In this article, we look at how AI can have a positive effect on seniors in a variety of different ways and areas of life, including health, care, wellbeing, safety, combatting loneliness and isolation, providing access to information, services and more.

Jump to:

• What areas of elderly life can AI help with?
• AI homecare support
• AI for elderly safety at home
• AI for combatting loneliness in the elderly
• AI to support more elderly independence
• Will AI elderly care take people’s jobs?
  
  

What areas of elderly life can AI help with?

More people in the UK are living longer than ever, with the number of people over the age of 60 expected to reach around 18.5 million by 2025, compared to 14.9 million in 2014. Living longer is one thing, but living well, with a good quality of life, independence, and the support they need in all areas, can be challenging.

AI technology, in a range of different forms, is starting to be used in ways that can help address this challenge for those in later life. Some of the areas in which AI is already being used include:

• Elderly homecare
• Elderly safety at home and when out and about
• Combatting isolation and loneliness in older adults
• Assisting elderly independence
  
  

AI homecare support

For many older people, staying at home and retaining their independence for as long as possible is very important to them. This is often only possible if they have the right support in place for their health and social care. While AI is still in its early stages in supporting with elderly homecare, there are already ways in which it is having a positive impact on older adults and those around them.

For those managing chronic health conditions or at high risk of developing a medical issue, AI technology can be used to help track symptoms, monitor vitals and may even be used to help predict if there is a problem that needs professional help.

By raising an alert and enabling the quick treatment of common conditions at home, trials using this technology with the elderly are already seeing a reduced need for hospital visits to A&E, fewer hospital admissions and fewer subsequent admissions to care homes. This not only helps older adults to maintain their independence and get access to the healthcare and support they need more quickly, it also saves the NHS money and helps free up hospital beds. Alongside this, reductions in the need for a stay in a residential care home after a hospital stay also help reduce the costs for government-funded social care.

AI for elderly safety at home

With more older adults staying in their own home and maintaining their independence for longer, that does sometimes bring concerns over safety. Falls are one of the biggest risks for the elderly, to both their health and their want to live an independent life in the surroundings they are familiar with and comfortable in. Alongside this, there can also be concerns about whether the older person is taking good care of themselves, eating and drinking enough of the right things to stay as healthy as possible, and meeting their own basic care needs.

AI is something that can be used to help monitor this, but in a non-intrusive way so that the older person doesn’t feel like they are being watched or spied on. Devices such as Taking Care Sense use AI to ‘learn’ an individual’s normal habits and daily living activities, then raise an alert if anything changes.

Taking Care Sense also monitors the home temperature and can also raise an alert if the temperature is lower than it should be, which can bring real peace of mind to loved ones who are worried that the elderly individual might not be using their heating as much as they should be in cold spells.

AI for combatting loneliness in the elderly

Loneliness can be a real problem for the elderly. A study by Age UK found that more than a million older people go over a month without speaking to anyone. While AI is in no way a replacement for genuine contact with other people, some technologies can help older people to feel less alone and can also help to facilitate an easy way for them to reach out to loved ones and support services if needed.

Smart speakers can not only answer questions verbally, which can help older people to stay more connected with the world and what is going on, the devices can also be set up to easily make voice calls to loved ones with a simple command. This feature is helpful for older people who perhaps struggle to use smartphones. 

Smart speakers can also play music on request, which is something that many older people find very beneficial, by listening to familiar music that helps take them back to a positive memory or time in their lives. A 2023 study by Amazon into how their Alexa range of smart speakers are helping the elderly found that 81% of participants said the device ‘made them feel less lonely’.

Other AI technologies, such as chatbots, are growing in use too as a way to help with social isolation and help those who are feeling alone, which elderly people could potentially use to talk about their interests in a two-way conversation and get some proactive tips to help manage their feelings.

AI to support more elderly independence

An important potential benefit of AI technology in the homes of older adults is that it helps them live more independent and full lives by helping with daily living activities that they might otherwise not be able to do on their own.

For example, smart speakers can be asked to give verbal reminders to an older person living in their home to take certain medication at a specific time, to eat and drink regularly and when certain appointments are happening. It can also help them make a shopping list and even help them know what to wear before leaving the house because of the weather information available.

These are just a few small examples of little ways that AI technology can help some older people manage their daily life a little more easily, helping them to maintain their independence for longer. With a loved one helping to set up AI devices for them and showing them how it works, this can be a great way for seniors to benefit from technology that is very easy to use.

Will AI elderly care take people’s jobs?

One thing that many people worry about with AI technology is that it will end up taking the jobs of real people. While this is certainly something to consider in lots of areas of industry and for businesses, it’s unlikely that the kinds of AI that can benefit older people in the ways we’ve already covered will replace human jobs.

Robots will not be able to replace carers in a multitude of ways, but AI technology can help older people and caregivers to make some things easier and more effective in everyday life.

With technology like AI, there are potentially many more ways in which it can evolve further in the future, to provide even more support and assistance to older generations in living a longer, healthier and happier life.

If you’d like to find out more about home systems that give greater peace of mind without being intrusive or limiting independence, view our smart home elderly monitoring products.