Many in retirement are travelling comfortably, with three key factors contributing to their happiness – good physical and mental health and enough money to enjoy life.
Perhaps the assumption that markets are still anchored by predictable economic policies needs to be challenged. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, political volatility – once background noise – is potentially reshaping investment risk at a structural level.
Aged care needs to ‘urgently adopt’ Artificial Intelligence
From robots to smart toilets and metallic exoskeletons, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology has the potential to revolutionise aged care in Australia, according to a leading high-tech expert.
That was a key message from scientific futurist Catherine Ball, who recently highlighted the opportunities AI presents in improving care, efficiency, and safety for both residents and staff in aged care.
“As they [new technologies] come into the healthcare industry – it’s a global phenomenon – you don’t want to be on the back foot,” she said.
Speaking at Ageing Australia’s Innovation Transforming Aged Care (ITAC) conference in Melbourne, she pointed to her work with AI and robotics in the mining sector where robots were being deployed in deep-ground operations to eliminate the risk of human fatalities.
She told conference delegates that aged care could also benefit from AI-driven innovations to reduce risks and improve working conditions. Using technologies in this way could fast become the norm.
“Because the Workplace Health and Safety Act states that if there’s a known and available technology and you didn’t use it, you’re liable,” said Ball, who is also a robotics expert.
One area of promise is the use of AI-powered exoskeletons (a clothing device that enhances strength, mobility and endurance) to help carers and older people with physically demanding tasks, thereby reducing injury and fatigue.
The wearable external robotic device is taking off in countries such as Japan and South Korea where they are facing rapidly ageing populations and are investing significantly in AI and technology to support older people.
Japan had been at the forefront, said Ball, adding that Australia should look to countries in the Asia-Pacific region for inspiration rather than relying on Silicon Valley. “Communities in the Asia-Pacific have so much to teach us,” she said.
While aged care remains an incredibly complex sector that is heavily regulated, Ball said that existing frameworks in Australia were not a barrier to adopting new technologies and “regulation and legislation don’t stymy innovation”.
“Instead, the key challenge is understanding where AI can add the most value. We don’t know what the problems are in the sector that AI can help with.”
Ageing Australia CEO Tom Symondson said the sector risked being left behind if innovation was ignored.
“AI won’t take your job, but someone who uses it will take your customers,” he said, recalling a quote from a recent event. “Innovation is everywhere. Often the biggest barriers are the ones we impose on ourselves.”
He described AI as a powerful tool to support a complex sector run by people who care deeply about the lives of older Australians.
He highlighted Cooma, a regional town in New South Wales, where council-run aged care services were likely to face severe staffing shortages due to their remote location. “Imagine how much a place like Cooma would benefit from something like AI.”
He said the recent World Ageing Festival in Singapore and the memorandum of understanding signed between Ageing Australia and Ageing Asia as key steps toward fostering greater collaboration and innovation in the sector.
“You can learn things not just from the person down the road, or the person in Perth or Cairns, but from the person in Ho Chi Minh, Helsinki or Boston.”
