Older Americans prepare themselves for a world altered by artificial intelligence

[sl8]

Older adults prepare for a world altered by AI

WBNS 10TV
Aug 13 2024

Older adults find themselves in a unique moment with artificial intelligence.

The technology offers significant benefits for seniors.

But it also has drawbacks that could be particularly damaging to this group.

Classes across the country are working to teach older people about AI’s ability to transform how they interact with the world – and the threat the technology poses. They range from basic misinformation on social media sites to more nefarious scams that use voice cloning technology powered by artificial intelligence to trick older Americans. An AARP report published in 2023 that Americans over 60 years old lose $28.3 billion annually through financial extortion schemes that have been sophisticated by AI.

Experts from the National Council on Aging, an organization established in 1950 to advocate for older adults, said classes on AI have increased in recent years and are at the forefront of digital literacy efforts that began with teaching seniors about the Internet.

[...]

============

https://apnews.com/article/seniors-artificial-intelligence-deepfake-education-classes-bc30958c273af7c79bfe77d321617738

Older Americans prepare themselves for a world altered by artificial intelligence

BY DAN MERICA
Updated 12:20 AM EDT, August 13, 2024

[...]

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.

[...]

Older adults find themselves in a unique moment with technology. Artificial intelligence offers significant benefits for seniors, from the ability to curb loneliness to making it easier for them to get to medical appointments.

But it also has drawbacks that are uniquely threatening to this older group of Americans: A series of studies have found that senior citizens are more susceptible to both scams perpetrated using artificial intelligence and believing the types of misinformation that are being supercharged by the technology. Experts are particularly concerned about the role deepfakes and other AI-produced misinformation could play in politics.

[...]

[Blues Heron]

1. I saw a vid where they asked Chat GPT which number is bigger - 9.9 or 9.11

Obviously it picked 9.11 cuz like 11 is bigger than 9 ?

It was so sure of itself

[ShepKat]

2. no desire to be involved in this

I'll go to my offgrid cabin and listen to the birds while tending the garden.
My motto is 'Be real or don't bother'. I've had it 'up to here' with fake.
fake food, fake people... Done.

[marybourg]

4. Until you need medical attention, or Social Security

sends you a letter. or you see what looks like an error in your bank statement. We are, none of us, islands.

[DeepWinter]

3. Yep

My 82 year old Dad is just not capable of distinguishing AI generated photos, video, text, photoshop, just about anything. He knows there are scams and fake crap everywhere, but where, when, why? He for the most part stays off the internet and just dabbles on his phone, but even there is nothing but landmines.

[usonian]

5. I am plenty tech-savvy and just assume that everything's a lie.

And even in retirement, I'm too busy (and underpaid) to do fact-checking.

Lies are like stealing the penny roundoff in "Office Space".

If it pays nonzero, someone will beat on it relentlessly.

I am a peaceful person, but when some asshole offers me $2,000 for my 3-bedroom home and 7 acres of land, I get more than a little angry. Same for offers from the local mortuary. If there weren't very strict postal regulations about mailing dangerous content ...

[EllieBC]

6. Prepare by returning to what we all learned a long time ago.

Just because it’s on the Internet, doesn’t make it true.

How is it possible that younger generations didn’t learn?

[yorkster]

7. Part of the problem is that well before AI

became wide-spread or even part of the lexicon, mistakes and outright lies in content, errors in grammar and spelling, and
rapid evolution/changes in the English language were already frustrating to followers of written,visual, and audio content, perhaps especially to older followers.
Add in AI and the question of knowing what content to accept as truth becomes
deucedly complex.

Thanks for this highly relevant and timely article. May need a class myself, if "time" allows...

[milestogo]

8. This weekend Alexa got out of control.

She started blasting news blurbs in the middle of the day. I never listen to news on Alexa. Apparently it responds to Alexa Shut Up. Or Alexa Shut the Fuck Up.

I disabled everything I had previously programmed and don't plan to re-enable.

I don't know what happened.

[Hotler]

9. Better be preparing for the possibility of a fascist take over. Stock up on food,supplies, TP and ammo.

If martial law is rolled out store shelves will empty fast.

[BannonsLiver]

10. Most of those people will be dead and gone before AI impacts their lives meaningfully.

As we’ve seen with the
Annihilation of AI stocks in recent weeks despite the hype it’s just not there yet.

[wishstar]

11. Good and fun way to determine if AI is to ask questions and see how bonkers the answers will be

I have an older retired friend with time on her hands who enjoys messing with both real scammers as well as AI bots on the phone asking them off the wall questions just to hear the responses.

[Xavier Breath]

12. Damn, I thought my fancy insurance would protect me from AI.