baby boomers

The University of Michigan polled older adult responders – and the results are in. In a recent survey of more than 1000 adults aged 50+, the University of Michigan poll, fielded inside Michigan and nationwide, demonstrates that Artificial Intelligence technology is useful to older adults – and that they are not intimidated by it.  As with other studies, those with less education had somewhat less trust in AI-enabled information, and those with health disabilities also were somewhat less trusting of the information they found. (Source: July, 2025 University of Michigan AI Poll).

In 2023, twenty-five interviewees agreed that AI was going to matter to older adults. This report was an early entrant connecting AI to their needs. By then, advances in AI had received the full attention of the technology industry, which was undergoing its first major disruption since the arrival of smart speakers and voice in 2014. In fact, some thought it was going to change the interaction with and care of older adults in a dramatic way.  Many predictions have been realized as of today, including the widespread use of conversational AI in the home, use of AI in healthcare – particularly in clinical documentation, hearing assistance technology, 24x7 remote monitoring, chatbots for everything, including senior living. In fact, today many experts believe that AI is the most transformative technology since the introduction of the Internet.

The more things change…Argentum published a new survey of senior living executives last month, querying execs about tech adoption, including thoughts about AI in senior living. The report (also sponsored by A Place for Mom) compared two sets of responses about tech from 2023 and 2024 – enabling a possible comparison. On the upbeat side, as of 2024, 76% of responders are optimistic about the role AI can play in their organizations. That question was probably not asked in 2023, so there was nothing to compare, but a number of them today are apparently experimenting with AI. They say that the uses are for staffing efficiency, care planning and improved resident interaction. Perhaps a number of them read a most 2024 report from this website, The Future of AI in Senior Living and Care and saw possibilities for improved documentation, staff education, and even the potential for predictive analytics.

Data about care is becoming the backbone of home care best practice.  In the past (and in some current settings) the home care worker has kept a book in the home for record keeping, bringing it in periodically to get paid. Today, organizations can use captured information about the home care situation, combining it with information aggregated from other clients or individual care recipient history. Data and the governance procedures to maintain its quality and security will, like other uses of AI, become the foundation for realizing its benefits in home care.

An impressive process was launched in 2013 at an AARP convention in Atlanta. Groups of older adults were shown how to use tablets. A presenter demonstrated and 4H volunteers sat at tables with the attendees to show them how to use them.  The program was called Mentor Up – and the idea was that young people could/should volunteer to help older adults with a device that was unfamiliar and baffling. At that time, the iPad was just three years old. The older adults in the room almost certainly did not own one -- at that time, 26 million older adults were NOT online. So their surprise and delight at what it could do made an impression. The role of young people was equally impressive -- and should be a role model for today.

Five years ago -- this site looked at the state of dementia-related technologies.  The more things (the tech offerings) change, the more their purpose and function remain the same.  Today there are websites that list gadgetry for managing and living with dementia.  There are research reports about technology for dementia care that include social robots, apps, or GPS locators. There are thoughts about implementation factors, articles from AARP, books about dementia care and many other knowledgeable observations and sources of guidance. Today 6.9 million Americans have dementia, slightly fewer than the 7 million estimated in 2020, though growth projections about dementia through 2030 were large and lon longer timeframe ones are even larger.  So what are the general tech categories that can help at the various stages?