As the Age-Tech Market Grows, Competition in AI Care Accelerates: Legal Issues Companies Should Review

Behind the growing attention on Age-Tech lie the expansion of care demand driven by the rising elderly population and the shortage of care personnel.

Amid continuing concerns over the increase in seniors living alone and regional gaps in welfare services, observers have repeatedly pointed out that a care system relying solely on existing personnel has limits in meeting the growing demand.

In this context, efforts to improve the efficiency of care services by utilizing AI, IoT, and robotics are also expanding.

Whereas in the past the well-being and health status of older adults were confirmed through visits or telephone consultations by welfare personnel, recently technologies that analyze users' living environments and health status in real time are being incorporated into the care field.

In practice, AI well-being call services analyze the content of users' conversations to assess their emotional state, and smart home systems provide functions that detect hazardous situations such as falls or fires.

With the addition of health information monitoring technologies and care robots, the scope of care services is also broadening to encompass health management and daily living support as a whole.

In line with these changes, not only the public sector but also private companies are showing interest in the related market.

Recently, business models that combine care services, digital healthcare, and smart home technology have emerged, and companies are expanding their business areas, including by reviewing the establishment of health management services and daily living support platforms targeting older adults.

NAVER Cloud operates an AI-based well-being call service called "CareCall."

CareCall applies technology that remembers the content of the most recent conversation with the recipient and generates context-appropriate responses, and it also utilizes regional dialect recognition and voice synthesis technologies.

One notable feature is that it focuses on forming an emotional connection with the user.

CareCall is currently used by approximately 50,000 people at some 160 institutions nationwide, and it is reported to provide overseas services in cooperation with local governments in Japan.

NHN is participating as the lead organization in the smart home field of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's AI Transformation (AX) Sprint project and is advancing related initiatives.

The smart home platform NHN is building utilizes IoT sensors installed within the residence to provide functions that detect hazardous situations such as falls, fires, gas leaks, and open doors.

In addition, it has been designed so that, by applying a conversational AI engine specialized for older adults, the content of conversations and the visit records of care workers can be managed in an integrated manner.

Its subsidiary, NHN Waffleflat, also operates health management services for older adults.

It has introduced functions that measure blood pressure, heart rate, and arrhythmia using a smartphone camera, and it also provides services that support the care work of daily living support workers.

In the Age-Tech market, movements by care specialist companies and robotics companies are also emerging.

Caring, a senior care specialist company, operates an AI well-being call service called "AI Maeum Dolbom" and, in cooperation with Seoul City Gas, is advancing a well-being check service targeting groups at risk of dying alone.

It is reported that the company is also reviewing a function that, through analysis of conversation data, would identify signs of depression or cognitive decline.

In addition, Hyodol and Robocare supply care robots for older adults living alone.

These services provide functions such as companionship, medication reminders, and daily living support, and one notable feature is that older adults who are not accustomed to using tablets or smartphones can use them relatively easily.

In this way, recent Age-Tech services are developing in a direction that provides emotional support, health management, and daily living support functions together, and the related companies are likewise expanding their business areas based on their respective technological capabilities.

Age-Tech services often collect not only users' living information but also information related to their health status.

Recently, as AI well-being call services, smart home platforms, and health management apps are combined, the scope of the information collected is also expanding.

Examples of the information that may be utilized include the following.

Recently, Age-Tech services have been developing in a direction that also provides functions to measure health status or analyze abnormal signs.

Functions that measure blood pressure or heart rate, or that check for arrhythmia, using a smartphone camera are representative examples.

In such cases, it is necessary to review whether the service in question constitutes a medical device under the Medical Devices Act.

Age-Tech services may also provide functions that utilize AI to analyze health status or signs of risk.

However, where the analysis results provided by the AI differ from the actual situation or fail to detect risk signals in a timely manner, questions of liability may also be discussed.

For example, where a fall detection system fails to recognize a hazardous situation or fails to properly analyze a health abnormality signal, it is difficult to rule out the possibility that the user or the user's guardian may assert the liability of the entity operating the service.

In this regard, there is currently no separate statute in Korea that directly governs Age-Tech services; however, depending on the individual case, liability for damages under the Civil Act or liability under the Product Liability Act may be reviewed.

In addition, as AI-based services expand, the demand for establishing risk management systems and internal control standards in the course of service operation may grow.

Because Age-Tech services often involve a structure in which multiple institutions participate together, the contractual framework can become complex.

In particular, when cooperating with local governments or welfare institutions, it is necessary to reflect in the contract, in concrete terms, matters such as the scope of service provision, the operating entity, and responsibility for data management.

In addition, for services that include health information analysis or AI-based risk detection functions, whether the scope of the information provided to users and the limitations of the service have been clearly notified also becomes a subject of review.

The process of checking whether key documents, such as the terms of service, the privacy policy, and entrustment agreements, are consistent with the actual operating structure can likewise be an important consideration from a risk management perspective, so caution is needed.