Older adults want a seat in AI decisions

×

Older adults are often missing from the rooms where AI systems are designed, even as more of those systems are aimed directly at them. According to research cited in a newly republished piece from The Conversation, that gap is showing up in hiring, product design, health care tools, and even fraud prevention.

The article argues that many employers still assume older workers are less comfortable with technology, despite the fact that many are skilled, curious, and actively trying to learn about AI. In the AI sector, where workforces are still largely made up of young men, that imbalance can shape the products that get built and the biases they carry.

A growing body of research, the authors write, shows older adults are underrepresented in the development of AI models. That can make systems less reliable for older users. One example: a study of AI-generated images found that images of older people were consistently less bright and less sharp than images of younger people.

At Concordia University, researchers recently completed a yearlong community engagement project focused on how older people view aging alongside AI. Their preliminary findings suggest many participants are uneasy with tools such as fall detection and cognitive monitoring, especially when those products are designed by younger developers who treat aging as something to fix or prevent.

Recommended reading

Hack points to Suno scraping 2 million songs

Participants also raised concerns about transparency, particularly in health care and customer service. Some said they had interacted with chatbot systems for services like online banking support without realizing they were not speaking to a human. A recent study on AI in health care decision-making, cited in the article, found that some older adults doubted AI could understand complex care needs and generally preferred human interaction. They also wanted AI use to be transparent and based on informed consent.

Fraud came up repeatedly. The article points to a recent fake CBC article shared on social media that appeared to show journalist Adrienne Arsenault interviewing Galen Weston Jr., who seemed to storm out mid-interview. The incident never happened: the images were AI-generated, and the post was meant to push a fake investment platform.

Some older adults in the Concordia project said AI could also be used to help identify scams before people fall for them. But they felt they had not been asked how those protections should work, even though they are often the people being targeted.

What they are asking for is fairly direct: a say in what AI gets built, what data is used to train it, and how it is governed. The article says participants also wanted accessible AI literacy training through trusted institutions such as community organizations, schools, and libraries. Several preferred short, in-person library courses over downloading more apps. The Toronto Public Library is among the systems already offering AI literacy programming alongside broader digital skills classes.

The core issue, the authors argue, is not whether older adults can keep up with AI. It is whether the people building and governing these systems are willing to include them before the decisions are already made.