It's often said that the youth are the first to adopt new technology. When it comes to AI-powered products however, the old rules may not apply anymore.
At Fortune's Brainstorm AI conference this week, the enthusiasm for artificial intelligence technology among the not-so-young was in the spotlight. During a special panel on AI's impact across generations, speakers pointed to various examples of AI products and services catching on with members of Generation X and Boomers.
AI products are filling an important need for older people grappling with everything from health issues to loneliness. And unlike previous versions of tools designed to address these problems, AI makes it easy and natural for people to use the technology.
"The biggest bottleneck for adoption of tools is friction of usability, and that's often very prevalent in the older demographics," said Raffi Kryszek, the head of AI innovation and principal product architect at Proto Hologram. But with generative AI and natural language features, the ability for people to use the technology by simply speaking is a game-changer. "There's nothing more natural than conversation," he said.
Kryszek recounted an "aha moment" when he saw an older person using his company's product. "This person wouldn't really use tech normally but just adopted it without any friction," he said.
Renate Nyborg, the founder and CEO of Meeno, an AI-powered "personalized relationship mentor" app, said she's witnessed significant changes among her customers in just the last six months. "The level of comfort, the level of trust in these technologies is increasing literally week by week," Nyborg said.
It's a promising trend for Meeno, which has a mission of fighting loneliness—a common ailment among older people.
According to Najeeb Uddin, the CIO of AARP, loneliness affects 1 in 5 adults today. "We're really worried about isolation among seniors, and I think AI provides a groundbreaking capability of connecting people in a way that they weren't able to do at scale in the past," he said.
Echoing the comments of Proto Hologram's Kryszek, Uddin noted that AARP's research found that 50% of baby boomers and GenX-ers are comfortable using generative AI technology.
For Ann Garnier, CEO and cofounder of women's digital health company Lisa Health, AI technology is ideally suited to help women entering middle-age deal with menopause. It's a life stage for women that Garnier said can involve as many as 34 different symptoms and innumerable combinations that change over time, with many linked to chronic diseases.
"You have this perfect storm, so you need technology like AI and large datasets to really hyperpersonalize this experience," said Garnier.
One common symptom of menopause is depression and anxiety, and Garnier said that Lisa Health sees an opportunity with generative AI to extend its individualized coaching services.
"One of the pieces of feedback that was most consistent that women gave us was that the coaching provided literally the first time they had had somebody who listened to their story, just listened with empathy," Garnier said. With generative AI, Garnier hopes to deliver this empathetic experience on a wider scale in 2024, providing women with "personalized expertise that's culturally competent."
