A world-first Monash University study has found using artificial intelligence into aged care homes can exacerbate ageism and social inequality.
The paper, published in the Journal of Applied Gerontology, reveals the unmet value of artificial intelligence (AI) to help solve aged care issues including loneliness of residents through chat, video and image sharing, through to medical diagnosis and assessments tools.
The study found pushing AI technology - from robots to voice assistants - into aged care can exacerbate ageist views due to the choices of carers on how best to use technology for older people in these settings.
"AI can perpetuate ageism and exacerbate existing social inequalities," lead author Dr Barbara Barbosa Neves said.
"When implementing AI technologies in aged care, we must consider them as part of a suite of care services and not as isolated solutions."
The study reveals more work is needed to better incorporate how older people are viewed in the design and implementation of AI technologies to ensure it can assist the sector.
The findings show ageism can be generated by design which includes views about older people as dependent, incompetent, and disinterested in technology, rather than engaged.
It shows that both AI developers and aged care staff assume lack of interest and/or capacity of older people to use the technology. This largely ignores the need to be accessible and non-discriminatory to aged care residents. .
Aged care staff and advocates are critical about the value of AI to solve care issues with concerns of replacing humans with robots, and who is responsible for machinery failures.
The study reveals the need to change stereotypes about aged care residents, and attitudes of staff, and create technologies that are designed for, and inclusive of, older people.
"The use of AI in aged care must be done with consideration of the potential impact of these technologies on well-being, autonomy, and dignity of older residents," Dr Neves said.
This comes off the back of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety which emphasised the need to put the autonomy and dignity of older people in care at the centre.
