👋 Good morning, I need your help!
In nine months, this newsletter has grown from fewer than 20 subscribers to more than 800. That's thanks to you, dear reader, reading, sharing, and engaging with what I write each Tuesday.
Now I need to understand what's actually working. What do you find valuable? What's missing? What should I do more of, or less of?
I've put together a short survey (3-4 minutes) that will directly shape the future direction of AgeFriendly.AI. Your feedback matters, and all responses are anonymous. Tell me what you think.
Click on the banner to be taken to the survey. Thank you!
Before we get into this week's content: I'm heading to Guangzhou for the 11th Silver Industry Expo—one of China's largest ageing and aged care exhibitions. I'll be exploring what's happening on the ground and bringing back insights you won't find in English-language press. More on that from next week.
What we cover this week:
AI adoption stats show aged care is ready to scale
AI tools help families understand contracts and cut through fine print
Supporting aged care intrapreneurs from within your team
Recording meetings with ChatGPT’s new feature
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
AI x AGED CARE
The numbers behind AI adoption
Source: McKinsey & Company
Some interesting stats and data I came across this week and last:
Close to 90% of organisations (across various domains) now use AI in at least one business function, according to a McKinsey report.
The Wharton report (surveying roughly 800 senior decision-makers at US companies) shows that 89% of respondents agree that Gen AI enhances employees’ skills. About 60% of these companies are also appointing AI Officers.
According to the same report, top AI business tasks included data analysis/analytics, meeting summarisation, presentations, reports, marketing content, and brainstorming.
In the Ziegler and Link-Age Ventures survey, organisations cite increasing operational efficiency (75%), improving quality of care (51%), and enhancing resident social experience (33%) as the top motivators for adopting new technologies.
We've moved past early adoption, AI is now becoming integral across industries. What stands out for aged care isn't just the scale of adoption, but how organisations are actually using these tools. The top applications aren't futuristic or complex; they're everyday operational tasks like data analysis, meeting summaries, reports, and presentations. These are immediate, accessible wins that aged care providers can implement tomorrow.
READING CONTRACTS WITH AI
What happens when everyone reads the fine print?
A slightly exaggerated version of a pill bottle, not the real product.
The Economist recently reported on how AI is dismantling what they call the "rip-off markets", that is industries where sellers have always known more than buyers. From healthcare to mortgages to home repairs, information asymmetry costs consumers a lot of money.
AI is changing this. People now upload car lease contracts to ChatGPT before signing, use chatbots to file consumer complaints, and question professionals with informed context. Research shows AI-assisted complaints to financial regulators achieve relief 49% of the time versus 40% for human-written ones.
What this means for aged care consumers
Choosing aged care has always been an uneven fight. Families navigate complex pricing structures, and care options without the knowledge to assess what they're actually getting.
AI is shifting this balance. Chatbots can now dissect contracts, interpret quality ratings, help families understand their rights, and provide context when questioning provider recommendations or filing complaints.
What this means for each care providers
The transparency AI brings cuts both ways.
The challenge: Informed consumers will scrutinise your pricing, question your recommendations, and hold you accountable more effectively.
The opportunity: Providers who embrace transparency will differentiate themselves. Clear pricing, honest capability statements, and upfront communication about limitations build trust with AI-savvy families. Being the provider that welcomes informed questions positions you favourably.
The bottom line: Consumers (in general) are becoming harder to mislead, thanks to AI. Providers who lean into transparency will be better positioned as this shift accelerates.
AI & TECH ADOPTION
Spotting the innovators already in your team
Source: Wall Street Mojo
The AI Adoption in Aged Care workgroup hosted Dr Tim Mahlberg-Sie, a leading voice on innovation and intrapreneurship with a PhD in the field and a background in organisational psychology.
His presentation on finding and supporting hidden innovators within aged care organisations offered practical insights worth sharing. These intrapreneurs are critical to successful AI and technology adoption—without them, new tools sit idle.
You can connect with Tim on LinkedIn, or visit his website to follow his work on innovation culture and intrapreneurship.
Intrapreneurs vs Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs take financial risks, operate outside established structures, and build new ventures from scratch.
Intrapreneurs work within existing organisations, using company resources to drive innovation. They experiment, solve problems, and champion new initiatives—often alongside their formal roles. Tim's research found these people already exist in your organisation, working under the radar and dedicating significant time to innovation activities beyond their job descriptions.
Three key takeaways for aged care providers
Your innovators are already there—learn to spot them
Intrapreneurs are curious learners, action-oriented experimenters, relationship builders, and feedback seekers. They manage risks systematically and inspire others with vision.
Action: Reflect on your team. Who's always exploring new approaches? Who connects people across departments? Who pilots solutions without being asked?
Culture kills innovation faster than lack of technology
Tim outlined six major barriers: lack of leadership support, short-term focus over experimentation, cultural misalignment, burnout from scaling without resources, no safe spaces for exploration, and identity tensions between formal roles and innovation work.
Action: Create support structures—workshops, cross-functional projects, acknowledgement in reviews. Actively endorse innovation, don't just tolerate it.
Borrow from startup thinking
Aged care can adopt entrepreneurial approaches: run small pilots before organisation-wide rollouts, partner with startups or universities, leverage existing talent, and reframe failure as learning.
Action: When considering new technology, identify your internal champion first. Give them permission to experiment with a small pilot, provide mentoring, and create space for iteration. If it works, embed it and recognise their contribution publicly.
The bottom line: Innovation isn't about which technologies you adopt—it's whether your culture supports those who champion change. Your hidden innovators are already there.
TRAINING
👏 A great session yesterday with Ageing Australia
I've done a few courses on AI courses now, some paid, and this one has been the most useful so far. THANK YOU!
Thank you to Ageing Australia and especially to Beth Dawson and Ayan Abukar from the CHSP team for hosting me at yesterday's workshop on Practical AI Skills for Daily Operations in Aged Care. With more than 200 registrations and genuinely engaged participants, it was clear there's real appetite in the sector for understanding how to use these tools responsibly and effectively. A big thank you to all the participants too, also for all the kind feedback I received.
🎓 AI Fluency: Microsoft's free learning path
Newsletter reader Erica C. recently completed Microsoft's AI Fluency learning path and insisted I share it with the community. She wrote: "the modules build logically, and by the end, I felt confident enough to start using Copilot properly at work." The course covers AI fundamentals, generative AI, responsible AI practices, and practical Microsoft Copilot skills, roughly 4.5 hours total, broken into modules you can complete at your own pace. Beginner-friendly, free, and designed for non-technical users.
WORKING WITH AI
🎤 Use ChatGPT record mode to capture meeting insights
If you have the desktop ChatGPT app, you can record and summarise meetings without the need of any other third-party tools (such as Otter or Fireflies), for both in person and online meetings. Please note, this is only available in the paid version. Also, always ask permission before recording others.
How to do it:
Visit this page and download the ChatGPT desktop app. You then have to login using your usual credentials.
When your meeting starts, click the "Record" button. The recording panel will start recording. You can minimise it, it will keep working in the background.
Click "Stop" when finished, then submit the recording to ChatGPT. You can ask for a structured breakdown including summary, key points, action items, and suggested follow-ups.
I have tried it with up to three people in one meeting, and ChatGPT has been able to decipher who’s saying what.
I’m not here to hype trends. I’m here to explore the changes shaping ageing—technology included—and to share ideas you can apply in practice. Whether you’re exploring new tools, rethinking services, or looking ahead to what’s coming, I hope you found something here worth your time.
Feel free to forward this to your network or share it with your team.
See you next Tuesday,
George
I'd love to hear your thoughts—feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or check out my website to learn more about my work.
