Longer Lives in an AI World: What Happens When Two Transformation Meets

Artificial intelligence is changing how we live, connect, make decisions, receive support and participate in society. At the same time, we are living longer, with lives that continue to evolve in diverse and often unexpected ways.

What do these changes mean for human rights in older age?

That question was at the heart of Age Knowble’s contribution to the 6th ASEM Forum on the Human Rights of Older Persons: Present and Future in Seoul.

Our starting point is simple: AI does not create new human rights. But it is changing the contexts in which existing human rights are experienced, exercised and realised.

Our first paper, Human Rights and Artificial Intelligence in Older Age: Normative Readiness for the Realities of Longer Lives, looks beyond individual AI applications and risks to four broader realities: diversity in older age; longer lives and evolving trajectories; living with support; and living with possibilities.

Through these realities, the paper examines five international and regional AI instruments and asks how ready their normative foundations are to respond to the human-rights questions that emerge in the context of older age. The analysis points both to important foundations already in place and to questions requiring further interpretation and development.

Our second paper, From Principles to Practice: Human-Centred AI Through a Human Rights Lens for Older Age, takes a complementary step. It applies an older-age human-rights lens to Human-Centricity in the ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics, exploring how human rights principles can inform the interpretation and application of established AI principles in the context of older age.

And a conversation with Bravo My Life brings these questions back to where they ultimately matter: the lives of older persons themselves.

AI can create new possibilities for living, participating, learning, contributing and receiving support. As these possibilities grow, older persons must remain rights-holders — able to exercise choice, have their will and preferences respected, and continue shaping the lives and futures they want.

As technology and lives evolve, our challenge is to ensure that older persons can continue to age with rights, dignity and self-determination — and with possibilities.