ASEM forum calls for age-inclusive AI
Summary
Experts at an international forum in Seoul said older people should be treated as rights-holders and active participants in AI development and use rather than passive beneficiaries. The forum warned that AI can improve independent living and access to services but can also deepen age discrimination, digital exclusion, privacy risks and limits on autonomy. Speakers said Korea’s rapid ageing and advanced digital infrastructure create an opportunity to test age-inclusive AI policies. The ASEM Global Ageing Center said it will expand policy exchange and build practical foundations for an age-inclusive AI transition.
Key Facts
- The forum was co-hosted by the ASEM Global Ageing Center, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and the Korea office of Germany’s Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
- Zvezdan Pirtosek said AI is already changing health care, communication, employment, banking, public services and access to information.
- Justyna Stypinska presented research on AI ageism and said older people are often underrepresented in AI policy documents and portrayed mainly as people needing assistance.
- Participants said success should be judged by whether age-inclusive AI improves autonomy, participation and quality of life while reducing social inequality.
- The ASEM Global Ageing Center said it would expand exchanges with ASEM members, human rights institutions, governments, international organizations and private companies.
Experts warn of risks of age bias, digital exclusion, loss of autonomy
Participants in the 6th ASEM Forum on the Human Rights of Older Persons: Present and Future pose during the event in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of ASEM Global Ageing Center
Older people should be treated as rights-holders and active participants in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI), rather than passive beneficiaries of technology or care, experts said at an international forum in Seoul on Wednesday.
The forum, co-hosted by the ASEM Global Ageing Center, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and the Korea office of Germany’s Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, brought together experts from international organizations, academia, civil society and government to discuss the opportunities and risks AI presents for ageing societies.
Speakers said AI can help older people live independently, maintain social connections and access information and services but warned that the rapid spread of automated AI systems could also intensify age-based discrimination, digital exclusion, privacy risks and threats to individual autonomy.
“AI is already changing health care and care, communication, employment, banking, public services and access to information,” Zvezdan Pirtosek, the U.N. Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of All Human Rights by Older Persons, said in his keynote speech. “The task before us is to make sure that technological progress strengthens human rights rather than quietly narrowing them.”
AI tools can support early diagnosis, health monitoring and independent living, particularly as Korea and many other ageing societies face shortages of care workers, said Pirtosek, who is also a professor of neurology at the University of Ljubljana.
But he warned that AI systems designed to help older people could also limit their freedom when automated decisions are difficult to understand or challenge.
At the forum, Justyna Stypinska, a professor at the Berlin Social Science Center, presented research on “AI ageism,” referring to age-related bias that can be embedded in training data, algorithms, technology design, policy discourse and the exclusion of older people from the development of AI systems.
Her study found that older people received relatively little attention in AI policy documents and were often portrayed as people needing assistance, rather than as decision-makers or empowered users. She also found that generative AI tends to produce more homogeneous images of older adults, with generated images more frequently depicting them as white and male.
Speakers discuss the human rights implications of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies for older persons during the 6th ASEF Forum in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of ASEM Global Ageing Center
Participants agreed that the success of age-inclusive AI should not be measured simply by the spread of technology. Instead, they said, it should be judged by whether it improves older people’s autonomy, participation and quality of life while reducing social inequality.
They also said Korea’s rapid population ageing and advanced digital infrastructure give it a distinct opportunity to develop and test policies for age-inclusive AI. As a society that has moved quickly to adopt technologies and entered superaged status, the nation could offer lessons on how to use AI to support older people without deepening exclusion or inequality, they added.
The ASEM Global Ageing Center said it would build on the forum’s discussions by expanding the exchange of policies and ideas among ASEM members, in cooperation with human rights institutions, governments, international organizations and the private companies. The center said the goal was to establish practical foundations and policy principles for an age-inclusive AI transition.
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