Co-creating AI in the care and lives of older adults

Description

Several studies have shown how design could be formed by ageism. Especially in the current developments of artificial intelligence (AI) to support ageing in place and care of older adults, design and development processes could benefit from involving the older adults to overcome ageism and possible biases incorporated into the AI systems. These participatory approaches are no common practice in current research about AI and older adults. By using co-creation methods it is possible to provide an environment for open collaboration and enhances generation of new perspectives from the actual end-users. Therefore, I applied that approach to explore possible AI use in the lives of older adults. My current research assists older adults in investigating the question: “Where do you visualize and position AI in your life while ageing in a more and more digital society?” This question is leading during a creative session in which the older adults got an introduction about AI, after which they created personal scenarios and got into discussions about AI in their future lives.
Furthermore, with this work, I aim to explore the necessities and notions regarding explainable AI (XAI). What is explainability in the context of care and according to older adults? Preliminary findings suggest that it is not such a simple topic. The needed level of explainability is diverse for individuals and contexts. Necessities and notions regarding XAI vary from knowing the algorithm towards practical knowledge. Care stakeholders often mention that older adults probably do not need explainability, just need to have trust. However, I have interviews several older adults who do express interest in XAI. Therefore, I argue and now involve older adults in my research to overcome ageism in the design and implementation of AI systems.

Period	27 Nov 2025
Event title	Methodologies for Studying Algorithmic (Age) Discrimination and Fairness
Event type	Workshop
Location	Leiden, NetherlandsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International