Fight Fire With Fire: How Does AI ‐Powered Technology Empower the Elderly Anti‐ AI Fraud Through a Socio‐Technical Systems Theory Lens?

Abstract

As digital fraud increasingly exploits artificial intelligence (AI), the elderly, due to their limited digital literacy and declining cognitive abilities, have become vulnerable targets. This paper examines how AI technology enables the elderly to protect themselves from online fraud stemming from complex technologies through the lens of socio‐technical system (STS) theory. Using the “Silver Guardian” project, developed under the Cyber‐Shield Security Ecosystem of a Chinese company, as an example, this study explores the effectiveness of jointly optimizing the technical and social subsystems within the STS to tailor anti‐fraud products for elderly consumers. Throughout the stages of product formation, iteration, and upgrading to cloud‐based prevention, the AI‐based anti‐fraud technology subsystem is aligned with the social subsystem of the elderly, characterized by low digital literacy, high emotional vulnerability, and specific cognitive limitations, achieving a progressive development of the consumer‐brand relationship from ability and benevolence to integrity trust, via a “controlled, cooperative, and evaluative” iterative algorithm governance model. This significantly enhances the product's technical performance and reduces the AI fraud risk for the elderly at each stage. Theoretically, this study synthesizes prior work on consumer fraud, elderly vulnerability, AI as a double‐edged sword, and STST, advancing understanding of consumer well‐being and theoretical disclosures on vulnerable consumers, proposes an integrative socio‐technical framework that moves beyond fragmented perspectives to optimize technical and social subsystems, and forms a novel theoretical lens extending in consumer behavior, algorithmic governance, and brand trust, offering a holistic explanation of AI's dual role in exploiting and protecting vulnerable populations. Practically, by understanding the dual role of AI in both promoting and combating fraud, this study develops a generalized roadmap, and suggests technical and policy intervention directions to protect vulnerable groups from AI fraud.