“I have always had an interest [in] educating senior citizens,” Margaret Sass, a faculty member for Boise State’s Service-Learning program, said. “That population is forgotten about.”
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, senior citizens are often left scrambling with how to contend with the technology. Even as grandchildren try to step up and assist their elderly relatives, the majority of elders believe AI is not only becoming more complex — it’s becoming dangerous.
Across the U.S., senior citizens face scams utilizing AI technology. In 2023, the elderly population lost $3.4 billion in telephone scams alone.
With a deep interest in working with the senior citizen community, Sass utilized ChatGPT to brainstorm an AI-centered outreach project that would be useful to the elderly population in Boise. She has hosted four AI workshops total, with the first being held in October of 2024. Sass hopes to host another workshop in the future.
While the workshops focused on helping senior citizens navigate and identify AI received positive feedback, the majority of seniors in attendance still expressed fear of AI.
“A lot of them just didn’t know what AI was and they were scared. My goal is to educate them [on] how they use it for tasks and entertainment and companionship,” Sass said. “I covered security quite significantly because that is what seemed to be their greatest fear.”
After an elderly woman expressed interest in Sass’s AI workshops but was unable to attend in person, the concept for an online course was born.
The AI-centered course was created through BroncoLearn and focuses on protecting seniors against the dangers that coincide with AI.
“When I was talking to the senior citizens, they were asking me if they could join my class — there’s too much more going on and they only wanted to learn about AI,” Sass said. “I created a course that specifically focused on security, what they need to be aware of [and] how to protect themselves.”
In determining the course curriculum, Sass created an AI persona, 75-year-old Dottie, to figure out what senior citizens might want to know. “Some [seniors] had never heard of AI,” Sass said.
Until recently, 80-year-old Quetta Ferber fell in that category.
Ferber explained that while she can see the benefits of AI in certain situations, like transportation or as a potential tool in healthcare, dangers that coincide with the technology concern her.
“They’re not going to stop. They’re going to continue and continue, and it’s going to come to a point that it could really be really dangerous,” Ferber said of the fast-growing technology. “A lot of danger to privacy.”
Ferber said she could see the benefit of a course like Sass’s, particularly the security aspect, not just for seniors but for learners of all ages.
“It would be[a benefit] really for every age, not just seniors,” Ferber said of the class. “When I found out about AI, I didn’t know what the heck it was. My daughter [and] my son-in-law really started explaining to me, and then I started following with reports.”
Linda DerrDolder, 80, was an educator for 34 years until she retired in 2000 — the year she said she noticed the technology beginning to impact the classroom.
“We were just starting to figure out that there were some kids who were all of a sudden writing far better than anything before,” DerrDolder said. “When you have them in class you have a pretty good understanding of how well they can do something, and then when something else appears, you’re questioning it. I think they have ways now that the teachers can put in some sort of AI themselves to see where it came from.”
DerrDolder expressed that a course that teaches seniors how to navigate the potential dangers of AI could be beneficial.
“With our country the right way it is right now, with our political situation, it [AI] could become really damaging,” DerrDolder said. “I can foresee that with the information that you’re getting about one candidate or another candidate.”
The self-paced AI skills course can currently be accessed through BroncoLearn which is accessible to anyone, free of charge. Sass has created two books as additional resources alongside the course titled “AI Tools for Seniors Workbook” and “AI Scam Protection for Seniors”.
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Where does one find out about another AI class for seniors?