May is Older Americans Month. This article is dedicated to everyone who knows you’re never too old to learn and grow.
Mass-market digital technology has evolved so fast in the 21st century, everyone has trouble keeping up. Especially people who lived their first 50 or 60 years without smartphones. While digital technology is helpful to senior adults (our App Search Tool has five lists of apps for their interests), many eye it as a terrifying plunge into unknown territory.
Especially with AI (artificial intelligence), the mention of which may trigger memories of fictional robots gone murderously independent.
What Is AI, Really?
AI is still misunderstood in other ways. You may not know that AI is part of nearly every technology you use these days. Not just online searches and text generation, but:
- Navigation for drivers
- Voice recognition
- Customized thermostat adjustments
- Organizing to-do lists
- And much, much more.
AI is also used to simulate human companionship (at least the part that comes through in virtual chats) by calling regularly to share reminders, games, and other helpful items customized to the user’s needs. Such “AI companion bots” are popular tools for staying mentally active and reducing loneliness. Many also alert family members if a user shows hints of physical or mental health issues.
That said, AI bots can’t replace human-to-human contact; and it’s a red flag if someone would rather be with the bot than with friends and family. Or if someone forgets that artificial intelligence is simulated intelligence, incapable of real empathy or personal-experience perspective.
“But It Was My Grandson’s Voice!”
Another danger is the AI-abetted phone scam. One common type is called the “grandparent scam” or “grandchild jail scam” because seniors with young-adult grandchildren are frequent targets. A typical scenario:
- A grandparent receives a frantic call, seemingly from their grandson or granddaughter, claiming that the grandchild has been arrested for reckless driving that caused a serious accident.
- The caller begs the grandparent for help, “but please don’t let my parents know about this!”
- The phone is passed to an alleged police officer, who asks for bail money—to be paid via gift card, cryptocurrency, or cash given to a “courier.” The panicked grandparent delivers.
- Sometimes, follow-up calls extort multiple payments.
- Eventually, the grandparent learns that their grandchild was safe elsewhere the whole time, and the whole “arrest and bail” story was a lie.
This scam is all the more convincing because AI can now analyze a few recorded words, and then generate a voice that imitates the original speaker almost exactly. This is popular assistive technology for people who are losing their natural voices and want a digital speech generator that “sounds like me.” Unfortunately, it’s also prized by scammers who can now create faked-voice calls via recordings from online videos and podcasts.
It helps to know that no legitimate authority demands immediate payment in cash or cryptocurrency. It also helps to arrange a private “code word” that family members can use to verify their identities in case of actual emergency.
(Note: This Friday, May 15, is National Senior Fraud Awareness Day. Check online, or with your favorite community center/public library/seniors-advocacy organization, for in-person and virtual events.)
Using AI Well
In normal daily life, there’s no reason to fear AI—just every reason to use it prudently. These are our best tips for beginners:
- Have an experienced user—anyone from a young-adult grandchild to a professional Digital Navigator—work with you in the beginning. They can save you a lot of trial-and-error time.
- Verify AI-cited sources and statistics (the likeliest places for errors) by checking official websites.
- For increased password security, add some extra characters of your own to AI-generated passwords. (Names of childhood pets, or other words/phrases with personal meaning, are good.)
- Update apps and other software whenever prompted. (You can also set apps to update automatically.)
Finally, don’t berate yourself for being “stupid” if you can’t figure something out—or especially if you fall for a scam. Mistakes aren’t stupid: they’re only human. Don’t be ashamed to ask friends, family, or trusted advisers—real, human intelligence—for help.