Breaking or Repairing Long-Term Care for Older People?

AI Delegation and the Carefication of Later Life

Authors

  • Dr Barbara Barbosa Neves Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Sydney https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4490-4322
  • Dr Geoffrey Mead Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Sydney https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3908-8225
  • Alexandra Sanders Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Sydney https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4243-5902
  • Prof. Alex Broom Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Sydney https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1258-1140
  • Dr Naseem Ahmadpour Affective Interactions Lab, The University of Sydney https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1818-1930
  • Prof. Kal Gulson Sydney School of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23987/sts.152562

Abstract

From robots to chatbots, AI technologies in care (nursing) homes have gained policymakers’ attention amid critical issues like staffing shortages. Concurrently, the long-term care sector has become a prime target for technologists due to its global market potential given the growing ageing population. Drawing conceptually on ideas of breakdown and repair, we explore socio-technical discourses of AI-based care for later life. We combine Bruno Latour’s concept of delegation and Madeleine Akrich’s notion of user representations to frame how these discourses can support breaking or repairing long-term care. Through this theoretical lens, we analysed 33 AI companies targeting the sector. Visual, textual, and semiotic analysis of their websites identified overarching discourses on ageing carefication, public inefficiencies, AI solutionism, and care datafication. Older people were depicted as passive data sources and staff as inefficient, positioning AI as the solution to all caregiving challenges. We consider implications for caregiving’s futures and reimagining AI-human care.

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Published

2025-12-15

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 4 (2025): Science & Technology Studies. Special Issue: Repairing (with) Algorithmic Systems

Section

Special Issue: Repairing (with) Algorithmic Systems

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Barbara Barbosa Neves, Dr Geoffrey Mead, Alexandra Sanders, Prof. Alex Broom, Dr Naseem Ahmadpour, Prof. Kal Gulson

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Neves, B.B. (2025) “Breaking or Repairing Long-Term Care for Older People? : AI Delegation and the Carefication of Later Life”, Science & Technology Studies, 38(4), pp. 13–34. doi:10.23987/sts.152562.