Will AI Take My Job? Interlude I: For The Sake Of People.

She’s turning 100 this year.

Another year. 365 days.

Every single one of which begins — for her, and for the person caring for her — at 2 a.m. With a walk to the bathroom.
Though even “walk” is almost too generous a word. There’s really no good word for what it costs her.
You can’t imagine it until you feel it yourself — what joints can do to you at that age. Knee joints, specifically.

No wheelchair. Even with help available. Whether she dislikes it or it’s a matter of pride — who knows. She walks.

Painful steps in the night. For the bathroom.

She refuses diapers.

She walks.

In there — 10 to 20 minutes.

The cleanup after.

And back.

A good night — just the one walk. Some nights it’s two or three.

Morning starts around 6. Breakfast. Skip it and she starts shaking.

Tea, always. Food — harder to predict. She’ll tell you what she doesn’t want.

After breakfast — blood pressure check.
Okay. Or high.
If high — medication.

Then back to sleep. Until 8. A good day gets you 9.

Another blood pressure check. It helped. Or barely.

Maybe a light snack.

Then she rubs her knees. Cream or a herbal solution — whatever she swears by.

Hard of hearing. One eye with a cataract, the other barely working. And yet — television. Probably the one pleasure left at this age.
She keeps track of what’s on. She has her shows.
More dozing than watching, if we’re honest.

Before noon — the bathroom again.

Around 1 p.m. — lunch. Options are offered. Options are declined. Something makes it through. She eats it. Not without a rebuke — “there’s nothing to eat in this house.”

A little television.

Maybe the bathroom again.

Dozing in and out. Television on in the background.

Around 5 — a light snack. She might even tell you what she wants.

Then her shows. Can’t miss them. To doze through.

Dinner around 7:30. Same story — options offered, options declined.

Blood pressure check and her TV series. This time she means it. If the day’s been kind, she drifts off somewhere around 10 p.m.

At 2 a.m. tomorrow becomes today. For her. For us. The new day.

For 100 — her heart is strong. All her organs are holding up. No dementia — no Alzheimer’s, nothing. And her mind is clear. Just joint pain — knees, mostly — and the general muscle weakness that comes with age.

And… she’s not easy. A clear mind and a difficult personality. It requires titanium nerves from whoever is caring for her.
And it doesn’t really matter who that person is — a family member or a nursing home worker.
Turns out, nobody. Nobody actually has those nerves. We’re all just people.

What if your loved one has dementia? Or any condition — physical or mental — that takes over both your lives.

And if I were told there was a (humanoid) robot that could genuinely look after an elderly person through a day like that, I would probably… most likely… get one.

While caring for the elderly, you realize: you’d want that same kind of help yourself, one day.
A robot that would simply help you live through each day of your life.
It won’t resent you. Won’t hate you. No other worries but you. Keeps the schedule. Never forgets. No personal distractions. It would do almost everything a human caregiver would do. And even more.
I understand this isn’t just any robot. Not a programmed appliance. It would need to be a robot with reliable, proven AI — with all the knowledge, skills and experience for assisted living.

Whatever we think about AI taking our jobs — this exact situation, this exact story, or any other like it, brings one thing to mind: I would want a robot like that caring for my elderly relatives. And one day, caring for me.

Do I wish it could be someone I love rather than a robot? Of course I do.
Could I really let my ego run that far — that someone who loves me should deal with the most mundane, routine, biological details of my life, instead of living their own?
I don’t think so. Could be… I don’t know. I just don’t.

And we shouldn’t forget the elderly who are truly alone. No one close. No one at all.

Sounds strange, perhaps. But this is a remarkable case where the dream of what AI and AI-powered robots could be — what they were always meant to be — might actually come true in its finest form.

They were created for people.

Or maybe more precisely: for the sake of people.