Can AI take over care work?

AI is already entering care work, from reading X-rays and drafting medical opinions to helping with intimate tasks in nursing homes. In Seoul, a robot is being tested to handle bowel care for patients who cannot move. The companion robot Hyodol, which talks with older people living alone, has been distributed by local governments across South Korea.

Japan has introduced robots that detect when someone may need to urinate, suggest a trip to the toilet and help with undressing. A Chinese company has also presented a home robot priced in the tens of millions of won that it says can do housework and provide emotional companionship. The technology's use is expanding beyond nursing and elder care into childcare and education.

The central question, the author argues, is not whether technology can perform these tasks, but whether it should replace human care. AI can read, write, calculate and make judgments, challenging the long-standing idea that rational ability distinguishes humans from other beings.

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the most fundamental value

But humans are born vulnerable and dependent. Care responds willingly to that vulnerability and therefore represents a fundamental human value. Philosopher Virginia Held called care “the most fundamental value,” while sociologist Kathleen Lynch described it as “a relationship in which emotion is given the highest priority.”

The author argues that human life draws meaning from human finitude. Sharing limited time and warmth with another vulnerable being cannot be reduced to a machine's calculations or functional treatment, even if technology can imitate the actions. People may want machines to take over exhausting care because individuals are forced to carry too much of the burden alone. The answer, the article concludes, should be for society to share that burden while preserving care as a human responsibility.

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a relationship in which emotion is given the highest priority