Governing Demographic Ageing in the Technological Era: A Legal Perspective

The essay analyses, from a legal perspective, the complex relation-ship between demographic ageing and technological progress. Despite the potential benefits that technology can bring to older people, espe-cially in terms of active and healthy aging, the relationship between ag-ing and progress is very complex and involves numerous relevant as-pects. Three different profiles that require a legal analysis are investigated: access to digital services, personal data protection and risks of manipu-lation, especially through the use of artificial intelligence tools. In terms of access, the digital welfare state brings with it the inevita-ble paradox that precisely those who would be most in need of services and assistance (such as the older persons) are in fact excluded from it. Moreover, the digitization of public services, and in particular health services, involves the collection and processing of large amounts of da-ta and information, many of which of a sensitive nature. In the absence of explicit references to advanced age (and vulnerability in general) in the GDPR, there is a problem with the effective protection of the per-sonal data of older people. Finally, the spread of artificial intelligence technologies multiplies the risks to which older individuals are exposed; in particular, risks of manipulations or deceptive practices enabled by AI through the exploi-tation of vulnerabilities associated with advanced age. Aim of the research is to assess if law is able to reconcile, with ref-erence to the issues mentioned, the apparent antinomy between pro-gress and ageing and to evaluate if appropriate measures have been in-troduced, both at national and international level, to integrate seniors in the digital society.