LightWell Care Welcomes Caregiver Action Network’s New Framework for Responsible AI in Caregiving

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — LightWell Care welcomes the release of The Humanity Baseline: CAN’s Framework for Responsible AI in Caregiving, published October 15 by Caregiver Action Network (CAN). The new framework puts the humanity, judgment, privacy, and choices of family caregivers and people receiving care at the center of how artificial intelligence should be developed and used.

The Humanity Baseline sets out five principles: humanity and choice; trusted, reliable and verifiable information; privacy, transparency and control; co-design and continuous learning; and evidence and accountability in real caregiving situations. It is living guidance for CAN and the broader caregiving community—not a product certification or an endorsement of LightWell Care or its products.

“Caregiving is fundamentally human. AI can help reduce the administrative and information burden families carry, but it should never replace human judgment or the relationships at the heart of care,” said Kathleen Hustad, founder of LightWell Care. “What matters is whether technology makes caregivers’ lives meaningfully easier while respecting the dignity and autonomy of the person receiving care.”

As a member of CAN’s 2026–2027 Caregiver Innovation Advisory Group, LightWell Care appreciated the opportunity to review a draft and share substantive feedback. The company’s feedback engaged with themes including verifiable information, human oversight, consent and decision-making authority, data rights, emotional dependency, and organizational accountability – areas closely aligned with the questions addressed in the published framework.

A central theme of LightWell Care’s feedback was that responsible AI must protect two people at once: the family caregiver and the person receiving care. The company also emphasized that AI should remain a tool under human control—not an authority people are expected to trust.

As LightWell Care continues developing the LightWell Care Companion, it intends to use the Humanity Baseline’s principles to inform product design, safeguards, caregiver engagement, and evaluation. The company views responsible AI as an ongoing commitment: safeguards and evidence must be built and strengthened over time, not assumed to be complete at launch.

“We affirm the direction CAN has set with this framework,” Hustad said. “Our responsibility is to keep learning from caregivers and to design technology that supports their confidence, independence, and well-being—not merely increases time spent using an app.”

Read The Humanity Baseline: https://www.caregiveraction.org/ai-caregiving/