AI gives golden opportunities to silver-haired seniors
Adapting to new technologies has ability to embolden and empower older adults
China pledged in the 2025 Government Work Report that it will improve the policy mechanisms for the development of elderly care services and industries, foster the growth of industries including embodied AI, and support the extensive application of large-scale AI models.
Chongqing and Shenzhen city governments have launched funding initiatives to advance embodied AI systems, a critical move enabling robots to transition from "digital brains" to physical caregivers and household assistants.
Public data has revealed that a single caregiver is often required to attend to as many as 10 elderly residents in China's nursing homes, indicating a severe shortage of elderly care workers.
Tech giants are racing to fill the gap. In September last year, Tencent's Robotics X Lab unveiled The Five, a human-environment robot designed to advance human-machine collaboration in elderly care scenarios.
