Good morning future-focused leaders.

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback and encouragement—and a special thanks to those who shared this newsletter with their teams! It’s great to have you with us for week two. This week, we’re covering a lot, from an advanced prompting technique to a self-guided mobility aid designed for people with low vision.

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Now, let’s dive into what’s new in AI and ageing!

This week: 

• A simple formula for better AI prompts, improving accuracy across tools.

• An AI-powered mobility aid increases independence for blind and low-vision individuals.

• The Chinese government officially endorses AI for aged care.

• AI’s role in empathy is under debate—should aged care AI be emotionally responsive or remain neutral?

• And more...

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READY TO USE TODAY

🩺 Anatomy of an prompt

In brief: OpenAI President Greg Brockman recently shared a key strategy for crafting effective AI prompts, helping users get more precise and useful responses.This formula breaks down the ideal AI prompt into four sections, and works with any AI tool you may be using (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and others). We added an extra section for even better results.

The formula:

• State your Goal: Clearly state what you want the AI to generate at the beginning of your prompt. 

• Specify your preferred Format: Do you want a newsletter article? An email draft? A report? Formal language or conversational tone? You will need to get specific, as AI tools can structure results in nearly infinite ways.

• State your Warnings: Tell the AI tool what not to do.

• Add the Context: This is a pretty broad section of the prompt where you mention anything else you think might help the AI understand your particular situation and needs. Tell the AI anything that comes to mind like you would with another person.

• Tell the AI to ask you any Clarifying Questions if you do not want it to make middle-of-the-road assumptions. For example, if you ask an AI to "write a summary" without specifying the length, it might assume a moderate length rather than a one-sentence or multi-page summary.

Bear in mind: A prompt is the starting point, not the destination. While the structure is great, achieving the 'perfect prompt' needs ongoing refinement and prompt iteration for your exact use case. No prompt is truly 'one-and-done'! And remember, AI will give you about 80% of what you need, but the final 20% is up to the user.  

ON THE HORIZON 

🚶 AI-powered mobility aid for the blind and low vision community 

In brief: An American robotics company has unveiled 'Glide,' the world's first autonomous, self-guided mobility aid designed to assist individuals who are blind or have low vision in navigating their environments safely and independently.

The details:

• Glide features a handle, a telescoping stem, and two 7-inch wheels. 

• Glide utilises advanced sensors and AI to autonomously steer users, avoid obstacles, and stay on a safe path. 

• It can be used indoors or outdoors and allows for pre-mapped routes and spontaneous walking.

• It is able to detect doors, elevators, stairs, and more, and can describe the surroundings to the user via audio.

Why it matters: Glide represents a significant advancement in assistive technology, offering a new level of independence for individuals with vision impairments. By enabling safe and confident navigation, Glide has the potential to enhance the quality of life for many in the blind and low vision community.​You can visit the company’s website here, or watch this video to see Glide in action.

THE FUTURE OF AGED CARE

🇨🇳 China embraces AI for aged care – What can the rest of the world learn?

In brief: China has launched a major policy initiative to integrate AI and robotics into aged care, tackling challenges posed by an ageing population. The initiative promotes the establishment of a unified national elderly care service platform for streamlined data and improved resource allocation, the expansion of smart health and aged care models to include AI-powered home devices and predictive risk-monitoring systems, and the use of robots in care. Source: Chinese (original), English (translated by Google)

Other Initiatives:

• The Shanghai Municipal Government released the Action Plan to Advance Aged Care Technology, prioritising rehabilitation devices for neurological function recovery (such as exoskeleton robots) and limb function restoration. 

• At the 2024 Digital Economy Initiatives in Wuhan, the focus was on humanoid robots expected to provide companionship and health monitoring, and in particular the option to customise their appearance in order to enhance user acceptance.

• The Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission released the Humanoid Robot Development Action Plan 2027, which explores mechanisms to ensure human-robot safety and trust. The plan aligns with national goals to integrate AI and robotics into aged care infrastructure, targeting labour shortages and rising demand for personalised care.

Why it matters: As Australia faces similar demographic challenges, China's AI-driven approach offers valuable lessons. Investments in assistive technology could help address workforce shortages in aged care, improve home-based support, and enhance quality of life for older Australians. Exploring AI-enabled solutions now could future-proof Australia’s aged care system while ensuring ethical and effective implementation.

THE FUTURE OF AGED CARE

🧠 Does AI’s empathy need to be calibrated?

In brief: Innovation theorist John Nosta, in his article AI's Empathy Apocalypse published in Psychology Today, explores how AI could enhance human empathy but warns of potential societal strains if not balanced with reason.

The details:

• Nosta discusses how AI systems, especially large language models, are designed to detect and respond to human emotions, potentially boosting our capacity for empathy.​

• He cautions that excessive empathy, whether human or AI-driven, could overwhelm societal structures like healthcare and justice, leading to instability.

• Nosta advocates for calibrating empathy with rationality to maintain a functioning society.

For a deeper exploration of these ideas, read the full article here. 

Why it matters: As AI becomes more integrated into aged care—through assistants, chatbots, and AI-driven support systems—questions arise about how much empathy these technologies should display. Could an AI system that mirrors human emotions improve well-being, or might excessive emotional responsiveness blur ethical boundaries? 

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📅 Shaping Aged Care for Forgotten Australians – The National Aged and Community Care Roundtable for Forgotten Australians will host its annual forum on 1 April in Sydney, focusing on how services can be more individualised, responsive and co-designed. The forum will showcase a range of technologies, including AI. Aged care providers and tech vendors are invited to participate, with AI and other technologies featured in discussions. Expressions of interest can be sent by email.

🧓 AI in Aged Care: Risk of Reinforcing Ageism – Dr. Barbara Barbosa Neves from the University of Sydney warns that AI in aged care could reinforce ageist stereotypes and deepen social isolation if older adults are not involved in its design. Her research highlights the importance of co-designing AI solutions together with older adults.

💬 Digital Transformation Tech Talk Recap – Last month, the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care hosted their first webinar of the year, which covered Support at Home integrations, the digital roadmap ahead of the new Aged Care Act, and had Uniting NSW.ACT showcasing AI applications in their services

🤖 Robots Enhance Aged Care – A recent study from the University of Notre Dame reveals that integrating robots into nursing homes leads to increased staff retention, improved productivity, and higher quality care. 

💻 AI Transparency in Aged Care – The Inspector-General of Aged Care has released an AI transparency statement, affirming its commitment to the Australian Government's policy on the responsible use of AI. The statement emphasises the agency's dedication to safe, ethical, and accountable AI applications in its operations.

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LISTEN NOW

🎙️ From Theory to Practice - Episode #3 in the AI in Aged Care Series

Marina Ritchie, AI Adoption Manager at ScrumCraft, and AI trainer & advisor, shares practical insights on how aged care organisations can successfully adopt AI, by discussing the step by step process. Discover real strategies that work on the ground. Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.