Brenda Lam is used Amnesty International Chatbot at least once a week. For a 69 -year -old retired banker from Singapore, Chatbot brings peace of mind.
“It motivates me,” says Lam, who was created by partnership with Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Lions, the Social Services Organization to support older adults.
When Lam talks to the robot, she usually asks questions for suggestions and ideas about how to enjoy life. “What can I do to live life to the fullest?” She is one of her latest questions.
Chatbot responded with advice, including exercising outside and capturing a hobby like gardening, reading or sewing. “The responses encourage me,” she says.
Although she has a close family and friends, Lam says is always reliable.
“I feel it is somewhat similar to whether friends are not available to spend time with me,” she says. “When we have chatbot, there is always for us.”
Lam mode is not unique. a lot the elderly Struggle with unity, and One in three They feel that they are isolated from others, many of whom live alone, have retired, or have no same social ties as they did before. According to Michigan’s national poll on healthy aging, 37 % of the elderly felt that there was no companionship with others. It is a crisis of warning the former public public, Dr. Vivek Mortthi, from the nation’s capital with a 2023 Consulting On the epidemic of loneliness and the healing effects of social communication and society. Research shows that the unit increases the risk of heart disease, dementia and early deaths.
The researchers and public health experts who are looking for new solutions in society have led digitally.
So, is it from Ai Chatbots, which can act as friends and colleagues, and will resolve the crisis of loneliness for the elderly?
While we face huge demographic transformations – where the number of children’s births is more than the number of adults – NNCY BERLLERERER, PhD, biological ethics at the Himings Center for Biology Ethics, who study Population agingThere is no shortage of work. With the number of adults numbering 65 years and over more than twice by 2040, and up to 80 million, it is wrestling with how rapid technological changes affect this regiment.
“If someone lives alone and perhaps his partner dies, and they can go throughout the day without anyone talking, do they want to talk to Chatbot, especially a voice that does not require the ingenuity of writing on the phone?” Perlinger said luck At the annual meeting of the National Assembly of the Society of Aging in November.
in Experimental program in New York This began in 2022, approximately 1,000 older adults interacted with Elliq, Chatbot, Amnesty International. The vast majority of users have reported a decrease in them alone and improved well -being. Participants interacted with ELLIQ for 28 minutes on average a day, five days a week.
“Their social circle is shrinking. People have died. They may stop driving, so their lives are different,” says Berlinger of older adults today.
However, Berlinger is still concerned about technology as a unit reform.
AI chatbots possibilities and pain points
“If we say, all that we need is the right artificial intelligence comrades for the elderly, does this mean that we say that we do not really have to invest in social pieces of this?” She says, adding that if the sponsorships retreat because From Chatbot, this technology does not amplify the person’s well -being. Similar to how studies showed this Social media It can exacerbate the mental health problems of adolescents and a feeling of isolation, and that nothing can replace personal communication, and the same can be said about the Chatbots for the elderly. “It will not replace all of this Relationship richnessBut this is not something. ”
“I will not say it is a solution to the problem of aging. It is something that we must monitor,” she added.
Chatbot is able to reduce the burden you feel in the family and friends. “I feel that in this world everything changes, so we have to face technology because we cannot rely on family members or a lot on our friends. Sooner or later, they have to live their private lives,” she says.
Whether this is the correct mentality it has not yet been seen.
Walter Pot, PhD, Professor of Psychology in Medicine in the Department of Aging and Medicine Medicine and Assistant Director of the Aging Center and Behavioral Research in Will Cornell Medicine, while artificial intelligence moves quickly, but it has not yet been convinced that it is a long -term solution for the elderly.
“You may see that people feel a little improvement, but whether this treats things like depression, loneliness and isolation perceptions, I don’t think we have really good answers to these questions so far,” he says, he says, he says, he says, he says, ” luck. “You are satisfied because you played with a beautiful part of technology, and it was fun and it was attractive for a while, but what happened after three months? The evidence is not yet.”
Boot also shows that Tech cannot replace all the things that humans have done to support older adults.
“There is a risk of thinking that the only problem is that you have no person to talk to. When you have people visiting your home, they can see your home, they can see your environment, see something wrong with you. Something may need to be repaired, or perhaps the person I am seeing looks sick, and you may need to go to the doctor,” he says.
Berlinger and Boot Tech want to complete other pieces of interaction and personal care. Let’s say that artificial intelligence can help older adults to choose the appropriate health plan or doctor, which Berlinger says can reduce the burden of providing care that girls face inappropriately. Artificial intelligence may also help find local activities in society for the elderly to participate in it, which is looking for his team with his team.
“If we can reduce the aspect of the paper work because we are old and aid, and helping people do things they want to do, well, this is great,” Berlinger says. “Who will support information technology for this Chatbot? I still think he is the family care provider.”
But for Lam, she loves to use Chatbot to collect advice and suggestions on how to feel better and more active. From time to time, you do not mind asking an existential question either.
When I was asked about the burning question that Lam for Chatbot followed, one of us may think of many of us.
“What can Chatbot do to create a better world for all of us?” Lam says.
This article was written with the support of the journalism fellowship from the American Antifestament Association, and journalists continued for generations and the Silver Center.
To learn more about aging well:
- Exclusive: Midi Health launches an arm longer arm to reach millions of women “lost to medical care”
- 3 fast food from the cardiologist and “Superages” researcher on how to live for a longer and healthy period
- New discoveries may slow vitamin D supplements.
This story was originally shown on Fortune.com
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