The Future of Care Tech Belongs to Caregivers
I’ve been thinking about the care economy again.
An article I read this week on AI and the care economy framed something important: AI is entering childcare, elder care, healthcare coordination, and education support – the invisible scaffolding that holds families and economies together.
That’s trillions of dollars of labor, much of it unpaid, much of it performed by women.
The promise is obvious:
→ Reduce administrative burden
→ Improve matching and coordination
→ Predict burnout before it happens
→ Expand access where human capacity is thin
But, are we using AI to lighten the load, or to extract more output from already exhausted people?
There’s a difference between automating scheduling and automating empathy.
Care is relational. It runs on trust, judgment, and presence. If AI enters this space, it must be designed to protect those qualities.
I’m especially interested in what this means for women and caregivers building businesses in this sector.
If you understand care deeply, emotionally, you are sitting on domain expertise that AI systems desperately need. The future of care tech should be shaped by those who’ve lived it.
The care economy is the test case for whether our technology serves humanity or simply optimizes it.
So, what are you thinking about AI in care?
Link to the full article in the comments.
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