A teenager recently invented a machine that writes homework assignments in perfect handwriting, complete with page-turning capabilities. Brilliant? Absolutely. Innovative? Not quite. As futurist and best-selling author Brian Solis pointed out during an eye-opening presentation at the Senior Living Innovation Forum, this is the perfect example of what's wrong with how organizations are approaching AI – using revolutionary technology to do the same old things, just faster.
And many senior living organizations? They're making similar mistakes.
Solis has studied every major technology revolution since the 1990s, and he's adamant: AI is "the fastest, most sweeping technology revolution" he's ever witnessed. What makes it even more daunting? "It's not done. There are so many waves ahead of us."
For senior living organizations already struggling to keep pace, this reality check is sobering. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, captured it perfectly when he said 2024 was "the most interesting year in human history, except for all future years." Translation: get comfortable being disrupted annually.
Here's where Solis's message hits home for the industry. Most organizations are approaching AI the same way they've approached every technology since the industrial revolution: to increase efficiency and cut costs. That's not wrong – it's just incomplete.
"We have confused the word iteration with innovation," Solis explained. "Iteration is doing what we did yesterday, better today and tomorrow. Innovation is doing what you didn't do yesterday in creating new value."
A customer service example Solis shared struck a chord with the audience. The senior living sales process is already one of the most stressful experiences families face, yet organizations are implementing AI chatbots that make families hate them even more. The iterative approach asks: "How can we deflect 50% of calls to save money?" The innovative approach asks: "What can we do with that freed-up time to create new value for our residents and families?
Solis introduced a concept that should become part of every senior living executive's vocabulary: there are two kinds of ROI – return on investment and "return on ignorance." The cost of not exploring AI in new ways, of not asking different questions, is mounting daily.
Legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has said that "most businesses have no clue what's about to hit them in the next 10 years when most rules of engagement will change." According to Solis, very few leaders are truly grasping the magnitude of what's coming. The senior living industry can't afford to be caught off guard.
ServiceNow, a leading enterprise software platform, publishes an annual AI maturity index that tracks how organizations are adopting artificial intelligence. Solis, who also serves as their Head of Global Innovation and was involved in developing the research, revealed a troubling trend: organizations actually scored lower in 2025 (35 out of 100) than in 2024 (44 out of 100). Why? People are overwhelmed. They're creating pilots without knowing why, applying yesterday's logic to tomorrow's possibilities.
One healthcare organization Solis worked with had "more AI pilots than American Airlines has pilots," but every single one focused on cost reduction or resource allocation. Not one explored creating new value or reimagining care delivery.
This hits close to home for senior living, where organizations are often siloed by departments, each with separate systems and data. For AI to truly transform care, these silos must be integrated – one of the hardest organizational challenges the industry faces.
The real threat isn't AI taking jobs – it's leadership's inability to think bigger and communicate a vision for the future. Solis found a massive disconnect between employees who hear "AI = job elimination" and leaders who imagine something different but fail to articulate it.
"If we can communicate a vision of how we're going to create new value," Solis explained, "AI becomes an enabler to create a new wave of businesses that we didn't have access to before."
For senior living, this is crucial. The generation entering the workforce has grown up with AI. If they don't see organizations thinking bigger, they'll either join more innovative companies or start their own AI-native ventures.
Solis shared a powerful case study from IKEA that provides a perfect template for senior living providers. IKEA's AI successfully resolved 57% of customer service cases, creating the typical executive dilemma: eliminate those positions to save money?
Instead, IKEA asked different questions: What about the 43% of cases AI couldn't solve? What were customers really asking for? The answer: interior design services. They retrained freed-up customer service agents as interior design professionals and generated €1 billion in new revenue in the first year.
Imagine applying this thinking to senior living. What if AI handles routine inquiries, freeing up team members to provide personalized care navigation, family communication, or specialized services that create genuine value? What new revenue streams could emerge?
Solis advocates for developing an "AI-first mindset" – not using AI like Google search to get expected outcomes, but challenging it to deliver possibilities that weren't previously known to exist. He suggests asking "What would AI do?" (WWAID) when facing any decision.
For senior living executives, this means:
"If you are not the hero, who is?" Solis challenged. "If you're waiting for someone to tell you what to do, you're on the wrong side of innovation."
The senior living industry is at a crossroads. While most organizations tinker with AI to shave costs and automate yesterday's workflows, tech-savvy competitors are fundamentally reimagining how care gets delivered. Meanwhile, AI-native startups are building the tools and platforms that will define the next generation of senior care.
The math is real: every day spent applying traditional thinking to revolutionary technology is a day competitors pull further ahead. The organizations that embrace innovative AI approaches won't just survive the disruption—they'll thrive in the market that emerges from it.
As Solis reminded the audience, "The definition of a great leader is someone who creates a future that would not have otherwise happened." The question isn't whether transformation is coming to senior living. The question is whether you'll lead it or watch others reshape your industry around you.
Watch Brian Solis' full talk below…