By Steve Moran

I’ve been playing around with AI, asking it all kinds of questions. Some fun, some practical, and some crazy wild. Last week I saw the story about Elon Musk being offered a trillion-dollar pay package and got to thinking … “If Elon Musk set his sights on senior living, what would that look like?”

So I prompted ChatGPT: “Imagine you’re Elon Musk thinking about what life will be like in your 70s, 80s, and 90s. What would you create to age well?”

The AI Went Full Elon

The response came back pretty much like you would expect:

“I can imagine something like this: Elon’s senior living would probably have some super sleek, futuristic architecture — like glass domes and self-sustaining ecosystems. You’d have AI-driven robotic caregivers, maybe humanoid bots, helping with daily tasks and companionship.”

Of course. Glass domes. Because nothing says “comfortable aging” like living in a terrarium.

But there was more:

“Transportation would be all self-driving Tesla shuttles or even Hyperloop connections between campuses. And of course, there’d be a big focus on renewable energy — solar panels everywhere and maybe even some SpaceX tech for communication or entertainment, like direct streaming from Mars.”

I’m contemplating this and thinking, “Who the hell wants to stream from Mars when they’re 85?”

But here’s where it got interesting.

I Pushed It Further

I asked the AI to go deeper into the resident experience. And suddenly it started painting this picture of radical personalization:

“You’d have AI assistants monitoring health but in a super subtle way, so it feels like magic. Maybe wearables that detect needs before residents even notice them — adjusting the room’s lighting, temperature, even aromas to keep them comfortable and calm.”

“And mentally, there’d be stimulating programs with VR headsets — so even if you have mobility issues, you could go on ‘spacewalks’ or visit any place on Earth virtually. Plus, maybe some brain-training AI to keep minds sharp.”

This was better than Mars streaming, but still pretty out there. And yet, this idea that technology could anticipate needs before someone even recognizes them? That’s compelling.

Daily Life in Musk’s Vision

The AI kept working:

“It wouldn’t be about just passing time. Imagine each day starting with some sort of personal adventure — you could work on collaborative projects like designing robots, writing, or even helping with space-related experiments. There would be no ‘old age’ vibe — more like a futurist think tank.”

“Social activities would be next level — imagine playing zero-gravity sports or even having AI-powered storytelling sessions.”

I’m not so sure about zero-gravity sports for 80-year-olds.

But strip away the absurdity, and maybe we’re onto something: the complete rejection of “senior living” as we know it. No bingo. No bus trips to the mall. Instead, this vision of a place where older adults are still creating, still contributing, still pushing boundaries.

The marketing would be genius too:

“Instead of focusing on care, you’d focus on the community’s mission. It would be positioned as the place where older adults go to be pioneers of the future. You’d market it with stories of residents making real contributions, not just living there. It would be aspirational — ‘join the community where you can still change the world.'”

This one actually gave me chills. Because it’s the exact opposite of how we think about and market senior living now, which is basically, “Come here to be comfortable while you decline.”

Then I Asked the Question That Changed Everything

Something big was still missing. I kept thinking about my own experiences moving family members through senior living communities. Beautiful buildings. Great amenities. Crushing loneliness.

So I pushed the AI: “But what about friendships? What about human connection?”

The response came back with buddy systems. Small neighborhoods within the larger community. Mentorship programs with younger people.

And then this line: “Inviting younger people to come in and learn from residents.”

Come in. Visit.

That word bothered me.

The Real Question

So I asked: “What if it wasn’t a senior living community at all? What if young families, college students, and older adults all lived together — not visiting, but actually living as neighbors?”

The AI’s response shifted entirely:

“Yes, exactly! That would be amazing. A community where everyone lives together, not just visits. Imagine a high-rise where you’ve got young families, college students, and older adults all living side-by-side, sharing amenities like maker spaces, gardens, and maybe even childcare.”

“Older adults could mentor younger people in life skills, and in turn, younger people could bring energy, help with tech, or just be there as friends. It would break down those barriers of age and make it feel like one big family, where everyone has a role and a purpose.”

That’s what I was looking for. Buried beneath all the glass domes and Mars streaming and zero-gravity sports, the actual answer. The human answer.

The problem isn’t that we need better senior living communities.

The problem is that we have senior living communities at all.

What This Thought Experiment Actually Revealed

Here’s what struck me after this whole conversation: The AI, pretending to be Elon Musk, immediately went to technology solutions. Robots. VR. AI companions. Self-driving cars.

All the innovation focused on making isolation more comfortable.

But when I pushed it toward thinking about (does AI think? I’m not sure) human connection, toward actual integration of ages, the tone changed. It wasn’t about innovation anymore. It was about returning to something humans have always done naturally — living in mixed-age communities where everyone has value, and everyone has a role.

We don’t need glass domes.

We need 25-year-olds living down the hall from 82-year-olds.

Why This Matters

The entire premise of this AI exercise — “What would a billionaire innovator build?” — led exactly where you’d expect: more stuff, better stuff, smarter stuff.

But when I pushed past the stuff to the actual problem — loneliness, isolation, loss of purpose — the solution wasn’t innovation at all.

It was integration.

For 99% of human history, multiple generations lived together. Then we invented retirement communities and convinced ourselves that segregating people by age was progress.

What if it’s not?

The Technology We Actually Need

After all this conversation about robots and VR and Mars, here’s what I think we actually need:

Buildings designed for universal accessibility that don’t look institutional. Shared spaces that give people reasons to interact. Economic models that make it possible for people at different income levels and life stages to live together.

And most importantly: a willingness to admit that the last 60 years of age-segregated living should be seen as an experiment that’s not as successful as we pretend it is.

What Musk Would Actually Build (If He Were Honest)

If Elon Musk really applied first-principles thinking to aging, I don’t think he’d build a senior living community with better technology.

He’d look at the fundamental problem — humans are social creatures who need connection across generations — and he’d build neighborhoods where 5-year-olds and 85-year-olds might both be learning to garden on the same afternoon.

Not because it’s innovative.

Because it’s how humans are supposed to live.

The AI taught me something I didn’t expect: we keep trying to innovate our way out of problems that innovation created in the first place.

Sometimes the solution is just going back to what worked before we got too clever.