Introduction
Johanna Seidl first became suspicious of a care app because its recommendation arrived at the wrong time of day. The suggestion itself was not absurd. But nobody had asked whether the person receiving it had slept, eaten or argued with the patient ten minutes earlier.
Johanna lives in Linz and moderates discussions about AI in care and everyday life. Her expertise grew in years of looking after her husband, in practical exhaustion rather than in a conference room.
Story of the Path into AI
When an app offered automatic advice for care routines, Johanna asked who would be responsible if the advice was wrong. That question pushed her into AI ethics. At first she felt invisible in expert events. Many people spoke about care work; fewer spoke with caregivers.
Johanna began reading guidelines, joining online discussions and collecting cases from support groups. Her first format was a conversation circle for family caregivers evaluating AI applications: What helps? What creates pressure? What data leaves the home? What emotional effect does a reminder have when it comes from a machine?
The first meeting nearly drifted into general fear. Johanna learned to bring concrete scenarios: medication reminders, fall sensors, chatbots for loneliness. Specific cases made responsibility easier to discuss.
Current Work
Today Johanna moderates citizen dialogues and advises local care initiatives before they recommend digital tools. In one project on reminder systems, she insisted that affected people decide which prompts may be automated and which must remain human. The group also defined what happens when someone ignores repeated alerts.
Several initiatives now use her question sheet before adopting a tool. Johanna does not treat that as bureaucracy. It is a way to slow down decisions until the people who live with the device have had a say.
Personal Advice
“Ethics begins where someone asks: who is relieved, and who pays the price?” Johanna says. She encourages families to describe the awkward situations first. Clean product brochures rarely reveal where dignity becomes fragile.
Key Facts
Age and place: 61, Linz.
Background: care work, return to public work, family caregiver perspective.
Entry into AI: discussion format for evaluating care-related AI tools.
Focus today: AI in care and everyday life.
Typical tools: ethics checklists, citizen dialogues, care apps.
Werkstattnotiz
Johanna’s question sheet has a coffee stain beside “emotional effect.” She refuses to copy it to a spotless template. The stain reminds her where the questions came from: kitchen tables, late evenings, people who need help but do not want their life managed by alerts.