Addressing the Black Box of AI-A Model and Research Agenda on the Co-constitution of Aging and Artificial Intelligence.

Journal: The Gerontologist
Published Date: Jun 1, 2024

Abstract

Algorithmic technologies and (large) data infrastructures, often referred to as Artificial Intelligence (AI), have received increasing attention from gerontological research in the last decade. Although there is much literature that dissects and explores the development, application, and evaluation of AI relevant to gerontology, this study makes a novel contribution by critically engaging with the theorizing in this growing field of research. We observe that gerontology's engagement with AI is shaped by an interventionist logic that situates AI as a black box for gerontological research. We demonstrate how this black box logic has neglected many aspects of AI as a research topic for gerontology and discuss three classical concepts in gerontology to show how they can be used to open various black boxes of aging and AI in the areas: (a) the datafication of aging, (b) the political economy of AI and aging, and (c) everyday engagements and embodiments of AI in later life. In the final chapter, we propose a model of the co-constitution of aging and AI that makes theoretical propositions to study the relational terrain between aging and AI and hence aims to open the black box of AI in gerontology beyond interventionist logic.

Authors

  • Vera Gallistl
    Division Gerontology and Health Research, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems, Austria.
  • Muneeb Ul Lateef Banday
    Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies, Switzerland and Goa Institute for Management, University of Bern, Goa, India.
  • Clara Berridge
    School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
  • Alisa Grigorovich
    Toronto Rehabilitation Institute-University Health Network, Ontario, Canada.
  • Juliane Jarke
    University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
  • Ittay Mannheim
    Department of Communication Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
  • Barbara Marshall
    Department of Sociology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
  • Wendy Martin
    Department of Health Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK.
  • Tiago Moreira
    Department of Sociology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
  • Catharina Margaretha Van Leersum
    Department of Digital Culture, Innovation and Communication, Faculty of Humanities, Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, Limburg, The Netherlands.
  • Alexander Peine
    Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

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