Agentic AI In Elder Care

What should AI NEVER do?

Can AI evolve beyond “assistant” to become a semi-autonomous agent in elder care, yet still remain safe, trustworthy, and humane?

“Agentic AI” refers to systems that not only generate suggestions, but can act autonomously (within boundaries) by pulling in data, reasoning, and triggering actions such as notifications or adjustments.

In healthcare, use cases already emerging include scheduling follow-ups, pushing medication reminders, or triggering alerts when sensor data diverges from norms.

But in elder care, the stakes are higher. Imagine an AI agent that notices gait changes, adjusts a home’s lighting, alerts caregivers, and escalates to a clinician — all autonomously. That’s powerful, but also fraught with risk.

A less-known stat: Deloitte reports 62% of healthcare leaders plan to implement Agentic AI in care delivery or operations by 2026 — not as a sci-fi future, but as a near-term roadmap. One cautionary angle: the quality of the “agency” depends entirely on the data, logic, and governance. Biased sensor inputs or mis-weighted heuristics could lead to harmful automated decisions. Indeed, there are documented cases of algorithmic denial of necessary care (e.g. elderly patients denied coverage) tied to weak AI oversight.

For Vironix, this means any agentic module we consider must be overengineered on safety, validation, and transparency. Our design principles should reflect this: human-in-the-loop, clear guardrails, auditability, and strict boundaries on autonomy.

💬 Question: If we gave AI limited autonomy in elder care (e.g. alerting, minor adjustments), where would you absolutely draw the line (i.e. what should AI never do)?

Sources:

https://healthtechmagazine.net/article/2025/05/what-is-agentic-ai-in-healthcare-perfcon https://www.nuaig.ai/agentic-ai-for-healthcare-providers https://automationedge.com/home-health-care-automation/blogs/agentic-ai-home-health https://www.skyflow.com/knowledge-hub/what-is-agentic-ai