随著老年人寻求在宅安老，像 Sensi.ai 这样的人工智慧装置正越来越多地在家中监控他们。作者 Steven Blum 居住在距离西雅图 5,000 英里（约 8,047 公里）外的奥地利，他使用 Sensi 的常开式麦克风监控他 86 岁的父亲。尽管存在隐私担忧，Sensi 已获得 1 亿美元的资金，并被北美 80% 的大型居家照护网络所采用。Sensi 声称在检测跌倒等事件方面有 90% 的准确率。然而，临床失智症检测模型经常误判患者，将 60% 至 70% 的人标记为认知障碍，而真实的盛行率仅接近 10% 至 15%。

对居家照护技术的需求源于对养老院的排斥，有 70% 的美国人对入住养老院感到不舒服。养老机构的费用也高得令人望而却步，平均每年超过 108,000 美元，这导致近 6 分之 1 的居民完全耗尽储蓄以符合申请医疗补助（Medicaid）的资格。此外，预计在 2031 年前需要填补 900 万个照护人员职缺的严重劳动力短缺，使自动化监控成为预设的基准。使用 Sensi 的机构报告了高达 88% 的客户增长和 85% 的计费工时增加，表明商业利益也推动了这一转变。

因此，远端监控迅速扩展，目前有 25% 的照护者远端追踪亲人，几乎是 2020 年记录的使用率的两倍。这一趋势得到了巨大投资的支持，AI 驱动的医疗科技初创公司在 2025 年获得了 107 亿美元的资金。尽管像 Clara Berridge 这样的学术专家对知情同意和家庭隐私的侵蚀表示道德担忧，但 AI 监控仍是一个不断增长的领域。虽然一些照护者和老年人认为这项技术具有侵入性，但其他人则认为它是解决资源不足的照护经济中孤独和人身安全问题的必要工具。

As older adults seek to age in place, artificial intelligence devices like Sensi.ai are increasingly monitoring them at home. The author, Steven Blum, residing 5,000 miles (approximately 8,047 kilometers) away in Austria, monitored his 86-year-old father in Seattle using Sensi's always-on microphone. Despite privacy concerns, Sensi has secured $100 million in funding and is adopted by 80% of North America's largest home care networks. Sensi boasts a 90% accuracy rate in detecting events like falls. However, clinical dementia detection models often misclassify patients, flagging 60% to 70% as cognitively impaired compared to a true prevalence of 10% to 15%.

The demand for home care technology is driven by an aversion to nursing homes, where 70% of Americans feel uncomfortable being admitted. Nursing facilities are also prohibitively expensive, averaging over $108,000 annually, which leads nearly 1 in 6 residents to deplete their savings entirely to qualify for Medicaid. Furthermore, a critical labor shortage projected to require filling 9 million caregiver positions before 2031 makes automated surveillance a default baseline. Agencies utilizing Sensi report up to 88% client growth and an 85% increase in billable hours, showing that commercial interests also propel this shift.

Consequently, remote monitoring has expanded rapidly, with 25% of caregivers currently tracking loved ones remotely, nearly doubling the usage recorded in 2020. This trend is backed by massive investment, with AI-powered health-tech startups receiving $10.7 billion in 2025. Despite ethical concerns from academic experts like Clara Berridge regarding consent and the erosion of domestic privacy, AI surveillance remains a growing sector. While some caregivers and seniors find the technology invasive, others see it as a necessary tool to address loneliness and physical safety in an underresourced care economy.