Artificial intelligence is moving into more parts of everyday life. It can help people understand complicated information, plan activities, learn new skills, communicate, and complete routine tasks. It can also produce incorrect answers, generate convincing misinformation, and create new opportunities for scammers.
For older adults, the question isn’t whether to embrace AI or reject it. It’s how to understand this technology well enough to decide when it’s useful, when to question it, and when to avoid it.
A recent initiative from OpenAI and Older Adults Technology Services (OATS), part of AARP’s Senior Planet program, highlights an important point: older adults need practical opportunities to learn about AI—not hype, fear, or the assumption that technology is only for younger generations.
At Senior Life Watchdog (SLW), we’re following these developments because AI increasingly affects the things that matter in everyday life: health, money, consumer protection, personal safety, relationships, and independence.
A national effort to teach older adults about AI
On September 16, 2026, OpenAI Academy and OATS held the Older Adults AI Skills Jam, a free, hands-on learning initiative designed to reach approximately 1,000 older adults across 10 U.S. communities.
The workshops introduced participants to practical ways to use ChatGPT, including planning a trip, understanding a confusing letter or bill, exploring a hobby, staying connected with family, and spotting possible scams.
The event is part of a broader, multiyear collaboration intended to expand AI education and online-safety training through Senior Planet.
The approach matters. People can learn more effectively when they have opportunities to try a new technology, ask questions, and receive guidance without feeling that they should already understand it.
One workshop cannot close every knowledge gap. But it demonstrates a growing recognition that AI education should be accessible to people of different ages and levels of technical experience.
What the research tells us
Older adults are not a single group with identical attitudes or abilities. Some already use AI regularly; others are curious but uncertain about where to begin.
AARP Research published findings in September 2025 showing that 47% of respondents in their 50s said they knew about and used AI or AI chatbots, compared with 25% of respondents over age 70.
That difference suggests an opportunity for education, not a reason to assume older adults cannot learn.
More recently, research reported by Senior Planet from AARP on October 1, 2026, highlighted concerns about online privacy. In its survey, 93% of older adults expressed uncertainty about protecting personal information online, while 70% lacked confidence in knowing what information is safe to share with AI tools.
These findings point to a practical challenge. People need to understand not only how to operate a tool, but also what information to share, how to judge its answers, and when to seek a more reliable source.
These percentages describe reported survey responses; they should not be interpreted as proof that every older adult lacks these skills.
AI literacy is becoming part of digital literacy—and digital literacy is increasingly important for everyday independence.
How AI could make everyday life easier
You don’t need to be a technology enthusiast to benefit from AI. You can begin with a task you already want to accomplish.
1. Make complicated information easier to understand
You can ask an AI tool to explain unfamiliar terms, summarize a complicated letter, or turn a long explanation into a short list of key points.
For example, you might ask: “Explain this letter in plain English and list the questions I should ask before making a decision.”
For important matters involving benefits, insurance, contracts, or legal rights, verify the answer against official documents or a qualified source.
2. Learn something new
AI can explain a subject at different levels of difficulty, suggest questions to explore, or help you learn a new skill at your own pace. You can ask it to explain a point again without feeling rushed or embarrassed.
3. Organize everyday tasks
It can help plan a trip, compare options, organize a project, draft a message, or create a checklist. You remain in control of which suggestions you use.
4. Get help understanding suspicious messages
You can ask an AI tool to examine the wording of a suspicious email or text and identify warning signs. But AI cannot reliably determine whether every message is genuine. When money, account access, or personal information is involved, verify independently.
5. Explore tools that support independence
Depending on the product, AI-enabled features can help read text aloud, translate languages, transcribe speech, summarize information, or make digital tasks easier to navigate.
The sensible starting point is not to learn everything at once. Choose one task that matters to you, try the tool, and decide whether it genuinely helps.
The risks deserve just as much attention
AI can produce answers that sound authoritative but contain mistakes. It can misunderstand a question, omit important details, or present invented information as fact.
That is particularly concerning when people use it for health questions, financial decisions, benefits, or personal safety.
Keep these safeguards in mind:
- Check important answers. For medical, financial, legal, or benefits decisions, use authoritative sources and qualified professionals where appropriate.
- Protect personal information. Avoid entering passwords, Social Security numbers, bank details, or sensitive medical records into AI tools. Review the tool’s privacy settings and policies before sharing personal information.
- Verify emergencies independently. If someone claiming to be a relative asks for urgent money, contact that person using a number you already know. A familiar-sounding voice is not proof of identity.
- Be skeptical of convincing content. AI can help create realistic messages, images, voices, and videos. Don’t assume something is genuine simply because it looks or sounds authentic.
- Keep your judgment in charge. Treat AI as an assistant, not an unquestionable authority. If an answer matters, verify it.
You do not need to be afraid of AI to be cautious about it. The aim is to understand its strengths and limitations well enough to use it on your own terms.
Where can you begin learning?
You don’t need an expensive course or specialized equipment to get started.
OpenAI Academy offers educational resources about using AI, while Senior Planet from AARP provides technology instruction and free resources on online privacy and digital safety.
Senior Planet’s privacy resources include practical guidance on protecting personal information, understanding what not to share with AI tools, recognizing scams, and strengthening online security.
You can explore these resources through the links in the Sources section below.
You can also learn by experimenting with an everyday question. Ask an AI tool to explain something unfamiliar, then ask how you could verify its key claims. That simple habit encourages curiosity without surrendering judgment.
And remember: you don’t have to use AI just because it exists. Learning about a technology gives you more choice, not an obligation to adopt it.
Why Senior Life Watchdog is following AI
The OpenAI–OATS initiative is one example of a much bigger change. AI is developing across healthcare, finance, consumer services, accessibility, communication, and personal technology. Some developments will be useful. Others will create new risks. Many will involve a mixture of both.
Senior Life Watchdog is here to help you understand which changes matter, what the evidence actually says, and what you can do about them.
Our AI coverage will look beyond product announcements. We’ll examine practical uses, emerging scams, privacy concerns, health-related claims, and developments that could affect your money, safety, or independence. We’ll explain unfamiliar technology in plain English, distinguish established evidence from uncertainty, and avoid treating every new development as either a breakthrough or a disaster.
We also want to hear from you. The questions readers ask can help us identify what needs explaining and which subjects deserve closer investigation.
The Watchdog Takeaway
AI education should be available to everyone, including older adults who have had little opportunity to explore the technology. You don’t need to become an expert. You need enough understanding to recognize its potential, protect yourself from its risks, and decide for yourself whether it deserves a place in your life.
Start small. Ask questions. Check important answers. Protect your personal information. And never confuse a confident-sounding response with proof that something is true.
The goal isn’t to get older adults to trust AI. It’s to help them understand it well enough to decide when to use it, when to question it, and when to walk away.
Keep learning with Senior Life Watchdog
You shouldn’t have to follow every technology headline to understand what’s changing around you.
Subscribe to Senior Life Watchdog through the subscription box on our homepage to receive the weekly briefing and keep up with important developments affecting your health, safety, money, technology, and independence.
Visit the Senior Life Watchdog homepage
Have a question about AI? Ask the Watchdog. You might be wondering how ChatGPT works, whether an AI-generated voice can be trusted, how to protect your information, or whether a new AI health tool is worth using. Send us your question through our Ask the Watchdog page. Your question may help shape future coverage that benefits other readers, too.
We don’t tell you what to think. We help you find out what’s true.
Sources
- OpenAI: Helping Older Adults Use AI in Everyday Life(opens in a new tab)
- OpenAI Academy: AI Skills Jam for Older Adults(opens in a new tab)
- AARP Research: Artificial Intelligence Survey(opens in a new tab)
- AARP: Most Older Adults Unsure How to Protect Their Online Privacy(opens in a new tab)
- OpenAI: Partnering with AARP to Help Keep Older Adults Safe Online(opens in a new tab)