Navigating Privacy and Trust: AI Assistants as Social Support for Older Adults

TL;DR

This paper addresses privacy, autonomy, and trust challenges in deploying AI assistants as social support for older adults aging in place. It synthesizes background on loneliness, caregiving, and digital social tools, and argues for participatory, user-centered design to study how usefulness and risk influence adoption. The authors advocate a privacy-aware framework and outline design considerations across AI assistants, interaction contexts, and information-sharing within social networks. The work aims to guide ethical, transparent AI that enhances well-being while preserving user control, with practical implications for HCI/CSCW research and elder-care technology development.

Abstract

AI assistants are increasingly integrated into older adults' daily lives, offering new opportunities for social support and accessibility while raising important questions about privacy, autonomy, and trust. As these systems become embedded in caregiving and social networks, older adults must navigate trade-offs between usability, data privacy, and personal agency across different interaction contexts. Although prior work has explored AI assistants' potential benefits, further research is needed to understand how perceived usefulness and risk shape adoption and engagement. This paper examines these dynamics and advocates for participatory design approaches that position older adults as active decision makers in shaping AI assistant functionality. By advancing a framework for privacy-aware, user-centered AI design, this work contributes to ongoing discussions on developing ethical and transparent AI systems that enhance well-being without compromising user control.