AI, Care and Psychological Safety for Older Adults Prenika Anand, Margaret Colling and Dianne Willcocks
Event details
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming a fixture in social care and our daily lives. But how do we ensure it is safe for older adults? Join our expert panel as they explore one of the most pressing challenges of our time: How do we successfully deliver the immense benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) without introducing unacceptable risks or causing harm?
Our speakers examine the psychological risks faced by older adults and discuss how we ensure that AI systems are safe by design, prioritising the long-term wellbeing and dignity of our ageing society.
Our event builds on the findings of The Silver LAIning: A SAINTS Podcast, a discussion at the intersection of ageing, AI and safety.
This event is presented by the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe Artificial Intelligence Systems (SAINTS).
About the speakers
Prenika Anand is a UKRI SAINTS CDT-funded PhD researcher in the Safety of Artificial Intelligence at York. She is a graduate dentist and holds a Master in Health Administration from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and an MSc in Applied Digital Health from the University of Oxford. Following her Oxford thesis on the role of technologies in loneliness of older adults, she was awarded a research fellowship by the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, where she explored the measurement of social connectedness as an indicator of wellbeing. Her doctoral research explores the psychological harms of AI and psychological safety in human-AI interaction, and its implications for assisted living technologies for older adults. She created The Silver LAIning Podcast, a public engagement forum intended to create accessible briefings for anyone interested in the intersections of ageing, AI and safety.
Margaret Colling is a former librarian from the Lancashire County Library authority. In 2023, Margaret was chosen for a truly unique group: The People’s Panel on AI. This deliberative review ran alongside the UK AI Safety Summit the same year. The Panel brought together a diverse group of 11 citizens from across England. They became a ‘mini-public’. They spent four intensive days learning about AI, engaging directly with experts, and discussing its future. Through a facilitated deliberation process, the Panel put forward important recommendations for the government, industry, academia and civil society. Since her participation, Margaret has actively advocated for the public’s role in addressing the potential ethical and societal risks of AI.
Professor Dianne Willcocks is a distinguished socio-gerontologist and older people’s advocate. Emeritus Professor and former Vice Chancellor at York St John University, Dianne served for nine years as Vice Chair of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. A social scientist with a multidisciplinary practice, Dianne’s research and contribution is in the field of an ageing society – currently around citizenship, dementia and end-of-life care. Dianne’s early research work as a social gerontologist focused on age-appropriate living arrangements and citizenship in old age links to her work with the Wilf Ward Family Trust and as a patron for OCAY (Older Citizen’s Advocacy York) which provides advocacy for elders. The York Older People’s Assembly designated Dianne ‘Older People’s Champion’.
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