Singapore will turn its eye on AI and help manage the health of the elderly population

From listening devices that detect falls to robots that support hospital “patient sitter” systems and robots that help exercise in robotic care homes, Singapore aims to become artificial intelligence to manage the health of seniors.

By 2030, a quarter of Singaporeans are over 65 years old. In 2010, there was one in ten people. It is estimated that around 6,000 nurses and care staff will need to be hired annually to meet Singapore’s health workforce goals.

Technology is extremely needed to bridge the care gap in Singapore and elsewhere, according to Chuan de Foo, a researcher at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in Singapore. Society around the world is “disastrously unprepared” for the elderly population, Who wrote last month in Science Journal Frontiers, and along with his co-authors described AI and other technologies as “an crucial force that could drive a paradigm shift in healthcare.”

In the case of FOO, artificial intelligence is set to play a “huge” role in Singapore’s elderly care, both in helping clinicians manage non-acute conditions and overseeing administrative tasks such as monitoring the availability of hospital beds, he said in an email to CNBC. “As older people in Singapore are more familiar, we can see that we look to teleco-growing and digital tools that utilize AI technology,” he said.

AI is also used to detect previous illnesses, an area of ​​personal interest to Dr. Han Ai Chu, a researcher at Lee Quang Ye Public Policy in Singapore. He said that his late mother’s diabetic eye disease could have been previously diagnosed and treated previously if AI testing methods were available when she was alive as she is now. “It would have been very convenient when the family was on that journey,” Chu told CNBC over the phone.

According to Chew, Singapore’s major focus is “aging.” “We can deploy AI, but it’s not completely replacing human care… it’s really about supporting caregivers and helping older people become independent and staying old,” he told CNBC over a video call.

Chu said the Singapore Housing Development Board is offering built-in home technology to detect when someone collapses, in order to alert the next relative of the resident or connect to a call centre.

These types of surveillance techniques need to be used with caution in the jurisdiction that is being deployed, Chu said. “AI needs to empower the elderly rather than stripping them of control. They still need to opt in, set boundaries and, more importantly, choose to turn it off when they want,” he told CNBC.

Singapore isn’t the only one considering using AI to care for the elderly. In the US, sensi.ai is a rapidly growing “co-pilot of care” who monitors elderly people using audio devices normally connected to three areas of the home.

Romi Gubes, co-founder and CEO of the company, said the technology can provide caregivers with over 100 different insights, warning of early signs of a urinary tract or respiratory infection, or falls or cognitive decline. “We combine multiple indicators coming from audio,” Gubes told CNBC over a video call. “Think about respiratory infections, for example. This should be the mood of cough, frequency, type of cough, and the request for complaints about fever, dizziness, cough, cough, cough, cough,” she said.

Once Sensi.ai is installed in the home, it creates a “baseline” for two weeks, focusing on a variety of “sound indicators.” If AI knows that the baseline will ring at home, it can alert caregivers to audio abnormalities that could suggest health issues.

Gubes said Sensi is being used by “tens of thousands of elderly people in the US, and a spokesman said the company is discussing potential expansions in Asia.

Expert CNBC spoke to warn that AI must be used with caution when it comes to senior health care.

Foo warned in consultations that overuse of AI could lead to “health consequences” as not all seniors can use technology, and that it must be properly designed to avoid “perpetuating the digital ageism.” In fact, the World Health Organization warned that “implicit and explicit bias in society, including around age, is often replicated in AI technology,” and its 2022 policy overview urged developers to take part in the design of new technologies.

In Singapore, the government’s Action Plan for Successful Aging has detailed its objectives, including reaching 550,000 elderly people in its health and wellness programme, reducing hospital deaths from 61% to 51% between 2023 and 2028.

However, Foo said that seniors should take into account the opinions of the people they are concerned about when determining how AI can address their health needs. “Like all new initiatives, failure is inevitable when the target audience, namely seniors, is not on board. We need to listen to them and tailor our national health and AI strategies to their needs, while eliminating the human element of healthcare.

When chewing, an approach to care for older people needs to be blended with humans and machines, and described as “high-tech is high-five.” “AI is best used as an extra set of eyes, ears and robots, but there is an extra set of hands, but not as a replacement for high-fives that provide human care,” he said.