Conversational and generative AI

AI hype, fear and loathing are on the agenda.  Today marks the 10^th month since the near hysteria surrounding the arrival and rapid adoption of ChatGPT.  It struck fear into the hearts of many, redirecting programmers (see arrival of Google Bard).  Forrester’s CEO George Colony just predicted the death of search and the web as we know it – his American Airlines flight experience is instructive (see the GenAI Imperative). The Gartner hype cycle on AI is now published – and predicts, of course, a future plateau in generative AI.  And finally, to cap things off, today the big guns of the tech industry, will spend seven hours behind closed doors discussing how to regulate AI.  

Taking stock of the tech market for older adults – what’s happened? Past the halfway mark in 2023, it’s increasingly clear that the older adult tech market has been disrupted by changes in demand. Its increasingly transformed by new technologies emerging from new funding sources, tech disruption, and entrepreneurial initiatives. Some might say that tech adoption is still slow in some sectors, but it is not for lack of widespread funding sources and innovator motivation. What is the context for technology change in 2023?

Six mobility offerings from AARP AgeTech Collaborative. AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative launched in 2021 with a splash (and 50 startups) that has widened into an age wave, or a sort of Match.com for age-related companies to find others, including collaborators, sponsors, pilots, and more. Today’s collection includes 104 companies, many of whom have gone through the AgeTech Collaborative Accelerator process, including pitch competition, Accelerator program enabling entry into the AgeTech Collaborative program. The categories span Caregiving, FemTech, Health, Mobility, Savings & Planning, and Social Connections. Read more.

Care workers – it’s not a shortage – it’s a crisis.  People who need care workers will tell you – the media will tell you, and the industry will tell you. From the national home care associations, a report in March: “The workforce shortage in home-based care has reached crisis proportions. Despite the best efforts of industry leadership and management, the gap between the numbers of patients and families seeking assistance and the availability of workers to provide that care is accelerating at an unsustainable pace. Home health care providers currently report turning away over 25% of referred patients due to staff shortages.” 

The past few weeks have brought broad-based wails of AI anxiety.  Last week in a meeting with some senior execs, there it was again – warning about scams, exploitation and worse. Then there is the AI laundry list of anxieties that keeps the media busy.  Note the hearings in Congress that raise questions and obtain carefully worded answers meant to allay widely shared fears. A regulatory framework has emerged (2 years ago) in Europe, with the purpose of helping Europe become a hub for AI innovation. The US government is interested in regulation, more for prevention, it seems, than to spawn innovation. But will it work? See social media.