We are living longer, but increasingly unhealthy, financially insecure and disconnected lives. Health systems are bursting at the seams. Economic inactivity is at a record high. And our places and communities aren’t adapted to long lives.

Along comes AI…

Taking industry and Government by storm, to what extent can AI help societies become ‘longevity-ready’ and adapt to an ageing society? In this short opportunity paper, we look at how the two defining supertrends of our time, AI and demographic change, might come together – for good. AI is already capable of:

Boosting time spent in good health:

• AI is better at interpreting scans than most medical professionals
• AI-enabled prompts and nudges can drive healthy behaviour
• Sensors and wearables are supporting people to live independently

Boosting productivity and economic inactivity:

• In pilot projects, AI assistants are freeing up to 20% of staff time by taking on repetitive, administrative work, with some estimates suggesting that by 2055, as much as half of all work tasks could be automated through current technology.
• Governments are using skills-matching software to plan future workforce and skills strategies
• Innovations in areas like speech-to-text are supporting people back into work who had previously been locked out of employment

Boosting income and financial resilience:

• Robo-advice can bridge the gap between professional financial advice and everyday consumers, delivering low-cost, algorithm-driven guidance to people who might otherwise go without
• AI can automate much of customer service, allowing service staff to focus on high-impact personal interaction
• AI can profile risk and forecast. In 2014, a venture capital firm in Hong Kong already appointed an AI algorithm to its board of directors, granting it voting rights on investment decisions

Places and environments that work for all:

• Urban planners already use digital twins – virtual simulations of neighbourhoods – to model traffic patterns, air quality, and access to services
• Smart cities and CCTV software are supporting safety
• AI powers intelligent energy systems that optimise heating, cooling, and lighting based on real-time demand

Boosting happiness and social connection:

• Companion technologies are tackling loneliness by using natural language processing and behavioural prompts to offer conversation, reminders and daily check-ins
• Machine learning algorithms can detect early signs of depression, anxiety, or PTSD by analysing speech patterns, wearable data, or even online behaviour
• AI chatbots could be the “frontline” of mental health support, widening out access to professionals for those that need it most

But ensuring these tools support us to live healthier, wealthier and more connected, rather than just technologically more advanced lives, means addressing:

• AI safety: Ensuring systems are reliable, robust, and well-governed
• Data privacy: Protecting personal data from misuse or breaches, and ensuring individuals own their own data
• Accuracy: Mitigating risk from AI mistakes (e.g. hallucinations or poor advice). Mistakes made by AI will be far less tolerated than human errors, especially in health, finance, or mental health
• Environmental impact: Mitigating the carbon footprint of large AI models
• Workforce disruption: Supporting people through reskilling and transitions as roles change or disappear
• Fair access: Preventing a widening gap between those who can leverage AI and those left behind – across individuals, sectors, and regions
• Algorithmic exclusion: Avoiding scenarios like “uninsurability” where AI-driven risk models shut people out of services
• Bias: Tackling reproduced bias in AI models

We need to grasp the nettle now to plan for tomorrow and make the most of the opportunities that AI can deliver, while mitigating risk. This paper is a conversation starter on how AI can be truly disruptive when it comes to helping us achieve healthier, wealthier, more connected long lives. We want to hear from you to discuss how policy, regulators and industry need to respond to ensure we can harness AI for good.