Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how people access information and services and older adults are no exception. According to a 2026 West Health-Gallup survey, more than 4 in 10 adults aged 65 and older use AI to research health topics before seeing a doctor. Notably, some turn to AI not out of preference, but because of cost, access, or quality barriers—the same barriers multisector plans for aging (MPAs) are designed to address. As states build and refine these comprehensive, cross-sector blueprints covering health care, housing, transportation, and long-term care, they have a timely opportunity to guide AI’s thoughtful adoption.
MPAs bring together multiple aging and disability-related efforts into a coordinated approach so that all stakeholders (within and outside government) work in sync. MPAs are living documents, updated periodically, intended to break down silos and chart a concerted effort to address the challenges facing older adults. As of November 2026, 15 states are implementing or revising their MPAs, and many more are establishing plans or considering what to include.
MPAs May Be Missing AI’s Impact
Against this backdrop, AI is emerging as a tool to help bridge gaps across health, financial security, livable communities, and long‑term care, including supports for family caregivers. But few MPAs address AI explicitly. Of the states with published plans, only three mention AI. Oklahoma’s Aging Our Way plan calls for exploring AI’s potential to monitor needs, strengthen real-time data, and improve decision-making around service delivery. The plan embeds AI directly into its framework by calling on the state to explore and evaluate the potential of AI systems and new technologies to monitor and assess needs, services, and available resources. The plan points to possible uses of AI such as analyzing health care patterns and service utilization, helping providers better understand care levels and resource needs, responding to the changing needs of older adults, and identifying unmet needs. The state hopes AI can help identify the smallest set of information needed to complete the most applications, reducing duplicate paperwork and making the path to benefits simpler to navigate.
As MPAs are developed and revised, states should treat AI as a practical tool for improving their programs, not a topic to revisit later.
Minnesota’s Blueprint for Aging mentions AI, but takes a different approach, framing AI as something older adults need to understand, calling for expanding digital literacy around AI and education on its impact on social spaces and vulnerability to scams.
Maryland’s Longevity Ready Maryland plan includes strategies to leverage artificial intelligence to improve access to public benefits and programs. Its 2026 annual report points to a partnership between state government and the private sector in applying the Moore-Miller administration’s multi-agency approach to modernizing service delivery through responsible AI. Since then, the administration published an AI framework to outline core principles that will inform the state’s work across programs, with ongoing work to enhance Maryland’s service navigation, application, and provider training processes through AI currently in development.
Many MPAs address technology broadly, but not AI specifically. Colorado’s plan calls for expanding telehealth and broadband access; Vermont focuses on broadband as foundational infrastructure; and states including Massachusetts, Utah, Pennsylvania, and Texas emphasize digital literacy, assistive technology, and smart-home modifications. These technology priorities are essential given the persistent digital divide among older adults, but most plans stop short of addressing how AI specifically may affect consumer protection, equity, privacy, or long-term services and supports.
Putting AI to Work
AI is already here, and MPAs should help states put it to work. Older adults, caregivers, and the agencies that serve them are already using AI, whether or not state plans account for it. Maryland’s experience shows the potential: a single chatbot expanded access to a benefit program while easing pressure on call centers. States can apply the same thinking to aging services by using AI to help people navigate benefits, identify unmet needs, coordinate care, and support family caregivers. Oklahoma has already written this kind of exploration into its plan. As MPAs are developed and revised, states should treat AI as a practical tool for improving their programs, not a topic to revisit later.
MPAs are well suited to be a hub for developing safeguards around AI because they already bring agencies, providers, advocates, and the private sector together.
MPAs must also make sure older adults can use AI well. Many plans already prioritize digital literacy, and that work now needs to include AI. Older adults are turning to chatbots and AI companions for health information, reminders, planning, and conversation. A recent analysis from the National Council on Aging (NCOA) notes that AI tools can help reduce loneliness and support daily routines, but they also introduce new risks, including scams, misinformation, and overreliance on advice that no clinician or trusted person has checked. Minnesota’s call for AI-focused digital literacy is a model other states can build on. Training should teach older adults and caregivers how to use these tools, how to judge what they’re told, and when to seek a human instead.
Guardrails need to keep pace with adoption. MPAs are well suited to be a hub for developing safeguards around AI because they already bring agencies, providers, advocates, and the private sector together. States can use that structure to set expectations around privacy, accuracy, consumer protection, and human oversight, especially in long-term care and other high-stakes settings. For example, plans could call for human review of AI-assisted eligibility or care decisions, clear disclosure when someone is interacting with an AI tool, and standards for vendors serving older adults.
AI will shape the systems older adults depend on whether states plan for it or not. MPAs give states the chance to do this deliberately by adopting tools that make programs work better, preparing older adults to use them confidently, and building guardrails that protect them.
Amy Herr, MHS, is a Senior Director and Mihret Walelgne Menberu, MPA, is a research associate at the nonprofit, nonpartisan West Health Policy Center.
Photo credit: Shutterstock/Lomb
