Artificial Intelligence as a Partner in Preserving Personhood: Recognition, Respect, and Trust in Dementia Care

Dementia is a growing global health challenge that disrupts memory, cognition, and daily living, but its deepest impact lies in how it threatens personhood. Kitwood described personhood as “a standing or status bestowed upon one human being by others in the context of social being, implying recognition, respect, and trust.” Building on this, Buron’s Personhood Model for Dementia Care organizes care into three interconnected levels (sociologic, individual, and biologic personhood), each increasingly at risk as dementia advances.Sociologic personhood is often first to be disrupted, as changes in memory and communication alter how people are perceived and included in social life. Individual personhood is challenged as communication and psychological continuity weaken, making it harder to preserve identity, roles, and preferences. In advanced stages, biologic personhood is threatened when residents are viewed primarily as bodies to be managed, and task-focused routines eclipse dignity.In practice, high staff turnover, scarce resources, and task-driven care often push systems toward custodial responses rather than recognition of the whole person. Artificial intelligence (AI) introduces both urgency and possibility in this context. Rather than replacing human connection, AI could act as a scaffold that detects subtle threats to personhood and supports recognition, respect, and trust at each level. From multimodal pain detection to adaptive reminiscence platforms, AI may strengthen personhood where caregiving is stretched thin. Yet empirical data on both the positive and negative impacts of AI in dementia care remain limited, fragmented, and rarely framed within a coherent theoretical model.This Research Topic seeks to stimulate rigorous, theory-driven investigations into AI in dementia care, examining both its potential to preserve personhood and its capacity to affect it negatively. Grounded in the Personhood Model, we aim to understand when AI functions as a partner in protecting sociologic belonging, sustaining individual identity, and safeguarding biologic dignity, and when it may instead contribute to depersonalization, inequity, or harm. Our goal is to convene multidisciplinary scholarship from nursing, gerontology, neuroscience, computer science, ethics, and health policy, and to advance a coherent, critical, and ethically grounded research agenda.We invite submissions that explore how AI can reinforce each level of personhood across the dementia trajectory, as well as work that critically examines how AI may undermine personhood or introduce new risks, biases, or harms.Sociologic Personhood (first threatened)o AI-enabled detection of social withdrawal, isolation, or depersonalization in early dementiao Conversational agents and social robots that support, but do not replace, human connectiono Predictive analytics to identify institutional risks such as restraint use, isolation, or depersonalizing staff assignmentsIndividual Personhood (second threatened)o AI-driven life-story and reminiscence platforms that dynamically preserve and share personal historieso Natural language processing tools that extend or clarify communication as verbal ability declineso Adaptive engagement systems (music, art, or sensory therapies) personalized to mood, cognition, and life historyBiologic Personhood (last threatened)o Multimodal AI tools for detecting pain, dyspnea, or discomfort through facial, voice, and movement analysiso Wearables and environmental sensors that track sleep, nutrition, hydration, and mobility as “vital signs of personhood”o Predictive models that anticipate unmet biologic needs before they escalate into behavioral distressCross-Cutting Prioritieso Ethical frameworks to ensure AI aligns with dignity, autonomy, and justiceo Implementation studies of AI-supported person-centered care in nursing homes, assisted living, and community settingso Equity-focused research to guarantee access to AI-enabled personhood support across diverse populations and care systemsPotential Risks and Negative Impacts of AI on Personhoodo Stereotyping and representational harm in AI systems (for example, biased, stigmatizing, or dehumanizing portrayals of people living with dementia)o Erosion of recognition and respect through over-reliance on AI that displaces human relationships or reduces meaningful interactionso Trust, consent, and surveillance concerns in AI tools that monitor behavior, affect, or physiology and may undermine autonomy or privacyo Structural and systemic harms where AI reinforces existing inequalities or embeds narrow cultural assumptions about personhoodBy encouraging submissions that highlight both positive and negative impacts, this Research Topic aims to foster a balanced, evidence-based debate about when, how, and under what conditions AI supports, or undermines, the recognition, respect, and trust at the heart of personhood in dementia care. Topic editors: Bill Buron, Stephen Fay, Michin Hong Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76384/artificial-intelligence-as-a-partner-in-preserving-personhood-recognition-respect-and-trust-in-dementia-care