Trust me, I’m a robot
We are social creatures. We are not meant to be alone and yet we live increasingly isolated lives.
Even before the pandemic, loneliness was a significant global issue. In 2018, a survey by the Economist revealed that 22% of adults in the US, 23% in the UK and 9% in Japan reported a perpetual feeling of loneliness and social isolation.[1]?
When you add in aging populations and post-pandemic pressures, it’s no surprise that so many global health and care systems are in crisis. The industry needs new answers fast to deliver the care we want for our loved ones at a price our societies are willing to pay and in working conditions that are reasonable to ask of our health workers.
That sounds like an impossible ask. Done right, I think social robots could help us get there.
Robotic care is already happening
In a healthcare or care setting, social (or care) robots are designed to assist with care tasks for all kinds of people — the sick, disabled, elderly and people with additional behavioral needs. They can offer functional help, such as reminding a dementia patient to take their medication or helping to prepare food. Crucially for our loneliness epidemic, they can also offer increasingly human-like companionship and emotional support.
These sorts of robots are starting to pop up all over the place. Paro is a cute, tactile baby seal used with dementia patients and isolated older people to bring comfort and enjoyment. It responds with human-like pleasure to pats and strokes.[2] Then there’s Pepper, a versatile humanoid robot whose applications include making dental treatment less scary for children and adults with special needs at a dental institute in Vienna.[3]
The benefits to our healthcare systems could be huge
As Paro and Pepper suggest, many care robots offer much more than companionship, important as that is. They can help deliver social care therapies and contribute to important healthcare tasks such as diagnosing specific illnesses or administering a care plan. For instance, PETRA is a humanoid robot programmed to identify early signs of three common diseases: diabetes, alcoholism and hypothyroidism. Using a medically approved script, she asks questions to evaluate a patient’s risk of the diseases.[4]
With the right checks and balances, social robots complementing our clinicians and care workers could help alleviate the pressure on many parts of our global health and care systems. As my EY Health and Life Sciences colleagues put forward, AI and robotics could also help us reach the aspirational goal of affordable, accessible, truly personalized healthcare.[5],[6]
Trust in social robots is not a given
For social robots to be a positive part of this healthcare vision, we need to address concerns about delegating care to machines. One of the thorniest questions is a moral one: Should we encourage vulnerable people to build emotional attachment with unfeeling machines?
As robots become more life-like, the bond between them and their owner is likely to strengthen.[7] That might be good for easing loneliness, but many believe it creates a moral dilemma. Given machines can only mimic human qualities and emotions rather than experience them, it could be argued that using care robots is, in effect, tricking vulnerable people into feeling like they are creating genuine connections when they are not.
Current responses to this question are varied. Some people think this kind of benevolent deception is acceptable if attachment to a social robot has a positive impact on a person’s wellbeing. Others think it’s a slippery slope to a dystopian future.
I believe asking the question is an important part of creating a system we can trust to protect the vulnerable while also allowing us to use innovation to solve big and difficult problems.
The good news is that actions are being taken to address this and other ethical issues such as data privacy. An international conference on “Robot Ethics and Standards in Robotics and AI” has been established,[8] and robot ethics courses are appearing on the curriculum at prominent universities worldwide.
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Remaining vigilant and pushing forward
Just as we see in my field of AI, it is essential that developers, governments, academics and others work together to build trust in new technologies by being vigilant and proactive on these sorts of ethical issues.
We need to build systems that move us forward. Yes, let’s do so cautiously and consciously, but move forward we must. With an aging population and a healthcare industry under strain, the world of social robotics offers a very viable solution.
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The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.
[1] https://www.kff.org/report-section/loneliness-and-social-isolation-in-the-united-states-the-united-kingdom-and-japan-an-international-survey-introduction/ (Aug, 2018)
[3] https://www.aldebaran.com/en/blog/success-stories/pepper-x-sleep-smile (Accessed Jan, 2023)
[4] https://www.merckgroup.com/en/research/science-space/envisioning-tomorrow/precision-medicine/petra.html (Accessed Jan, 2023)
[5] https://www.ey.com/en_gl/life-sciences/how-you-can-create-value-in-an-intelligent-health-ecosystem (May, 2022)
[6] https://www.ey.com/en_uk/health/smart-health-solutions (Accessed Jan, 2023)