Technology
"A Glimpse, Not a Gaze": Using Generative AI to Balance Privacy and Awareness in Inter-generational Caregiving
Key Points
Announce Type: new Abstract: As older adults increasingly prefer to age in place, their adult children often assume the role of informal caregivers. This dynamic creates a distinct tension between the adult child's need for awareness and the older adult's fundamental right to privacy. Traditional monitoring technologies, such as raw video feeds, often compromise the older adult's autonomy.
arXiv:2606.05055v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: As older adults increasingly prefer to age in place, their adult children often assume the role of informal caregivers. This dynamic creates a distinct tension between the adult child's need for awareness and the older adult's fundamental right to privacy. Traditional monitoring technologies, such as raw video feeds, often compromise the older adult's autonomy. To address this challenge, this study explores the use of generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to create abstract, privacy-preserving ``visual summaries'' of daily activities. We design a 10-day Experience Sampling Method (ESM) study with dyads consisting of older adults and their adult children. Through daily smartphone prompts, participants report their current context and evaluate pre-generated AI sketches, indicating their willingness to share or receive these images. Follow-up interviews will further investigate participants' boundary-setting behaviours. This research aims to quantify the privacy mismatch between generations and provide actionable design guidelines for applying visual abstraction in AI-mediated caregiving tools, ultimately supporting inter-generational connection while protecting user dignity.