Older Americans prepare themselves for a world altered by artificial intelligence

NORTHFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The students — most with gray hair, some with canes, all at least in their 60s — couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“Oh, my God,” whispered a retired college professor.

“Does it come with viruses?” wondered a bewildered woman scribbling notes in the second row.

A 79-year-old in a black-and-white floral shirt then asked the question on many minds: “How do you know if it is fake or not?”

This is how older adults — many of whom lived through the advent of refrigeration, the transition from radio to television and the invention of the Internet — are grappling with artificial intelligence: taking a class. Sitting in a classroom in an airy senior center in a Chicago suburb, the dozen students were learning about the latest — and possibly greatest — technological leap in their lives.

And they are not alone. Across the country, scores of such classes have sprung up to teach seniors about AI’s ability to transform their lives and the threats the technology poses.

“I saw ice boxes turn into refrigerators, that is how long I have been around,” said Barbara Winston, 89, who paid to attend the class put on at the North Shore Senior Center in Northfield. “And I think this is probably the greatest technical revolution that I will see in my lifetime.”

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