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Bot Talk

Humans would like the bot to stop trying so hard

A new study suggests older adults want AI chatbots to be conversational — not human-like.

Researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design studied 140 adults ages 60 to 89 as they interacted with an AI social chatbot.

Participants were more interested in using the chatbot when the bot felt responsive and authentic. But when it seemed more human-like, interest dropped.

“Being socially engaging is not the same as being human-like,” the lead researcher told Tech Xplore.

The study, published in Innovation in Aging, tested an age-friendly chatbot that speaks, listens and uses simple controls.

In Bot Hurt speak, humans do not need the bot pretending to be a person.

They just want it to hold up its end of the conversation.

Human x Bot

Maybe the bot is finally speaking their language

Maybe older adults have an AI advantage nobody saw coming. They know how to talk, and they've had a lot of practice.

That thought occurred to me last week while the Bot Hurt editorial staff was operating at reduced capacity.

Meaning me.

I was sick, so I spent a little more time than usual streaming movies. That's when I started noticing the commercials.

ChatGPT kept showing me senior citizens.

Not twenty-somethings coding an app or startup founders staring intensely at six monitors.

Older people.

Talking to the bot.

And once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop wondering why.

The obvious answer is marketing. Older adults use AI less than younger adults, which leaves AI companies plenty of room to find new customers.

The numbers show the generational gap. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in February found that 66% of adults ages 18 to 29 had used AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot. Among adults 65 and older, it was 23%.

That's still a big gap, but nearly double the 12% Pew recorded in 2024.

The commercials were not the only reason the casting caught my attention.

If you read our Bot Hurt on the Road special edition from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, you may remember the bot was not exactly the star of that trip.

The bourbon was.

Still, I noticed some of my older travel companions had AI very much figured out.

They were using it to find restaurants, bars and places to stop next. They even used it to learn why a former church in Louisville is now a whiskey bar with ties to Bob Dylan.

They weren't trying to be cutting edge. AI was simply useful.

And that may be the more interesting story.

For most of computing history, we had to learn how computers wanted us to communicate: search terms, menus, commands and apps.

Conversational AI changes that bargain.

Now you can explain what you want, clarify it, change your mind or add context. You can say, “No, that's not quite what I meant,” and the bot adjusts.

Suddenly, one of the newest interfaces in technology looks suspiciously like one of the oldest — a conversation.

Older generations have had decades of practice at that.

They may not have grown up with smartphones or search engines. But sometimes the way we talk about older adults and technology makes it sound as though they arrived at old age without learning a few things along the way.

They have spent decades asking questions, explaining themselves, telling stories, reading people and recognizing when someone did not quite understand.

Those happen to be pretty useful AI skills.

There is another question underneath all of this.

The researchers in Bot Talk point to loneliness and social isolation as one reason social chatbots could matter. I wondered about that, too, watching those commercials.

A machine that listens and responds could be genuinely useful to someone who spends a lot of time alone. It could also become a substitute for the human connection people actually need.

That line is worth watching.

Final Bot Thought

Conversational AI gives older adults a way to use a computer without having to think like one.

And maybe call someone you love once in a while.

The bot doesn't need every job.