Dr. Rasita Vinay is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Core Director for Digital Ethics and Care for Older Adults at the School of Medicine, University of St. Gallen, as well as at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich. Her current research focuses on providing digital health interventions to individuals with varying cognitive impairments. Previously she obtained her PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Zurich in 2023, focusing on the bioethical considerations in improving dementia care. She also has a background in Neuroscience (BSc) from the University of Melbourne, and Bioethics (MBE) from Monash University in Australia. Her research interests include digital health interventions, dementia care, advance care planning and conversational agents.

About the Lecture

This presentation will delve into the ethics of voice assistants powered by large language models (LLMs), with a focus on their use in dementia care. The first part of the presentation will introduce value sensitive designs, complemented by the Ethics by Design for AI framework, to discuss the key principles and ethical considerations for development of such technologies. Secondly, I will introduce our prototype, GRACE, an LLM-based voice assistant that leverages elements of cognitive stimulation therapy to provide cognitive interventions. The aim of GRACE is to help individuals with dementia maintain independence and enable aging-in-place, and thus also improve their quality of life. To conclude, I will present results from two pilot studies conducted with GRACE, among (a) healthy younger adults, and (b) healthy older adults. These pilot studies provide an insight to perceived ethical values and considerations by study participants, and a use-case of how ethical frameworks can be applied to new technologies.

Prof. Dr. Tobias Kowatsch, Associate Professor for Digital Health Interventions, Institute for Implementation Science in Health Care, University of Zurich; Director, School of Medicine, University of St.Gallen (HSG); Scientific Director, Centre for Digital Health Interventions (CDHI), ETH Zurich & HSG; Principal Investigator, Future Health Technologies programme, Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore-ETH Centre, Singapore

Prof. Dr. Elgar Fleisch, Professor of Information Management, ETH Zürich; Professor of Technology Management, University of St.Gallen; Advisory Board Member, CDHI, ETH Zürich & University of St.Gallen; Principal Investigator, Future Health Technologies programme, Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore-ETH Centre, Singapore

Prof. Dr. Florian von Wangenheim, Professor of Technology Marketing, ETH Zurich & Advisory Board Member, CDHI; Principal Investigator, Future Health Technologies programme, Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore-ETH Centre, Singapore