This group is missing out on crucial AI safety conversations

How can we keep individuals safe from the dangers AI presents? The answer to this ever-present question often focuses on training and education initiatives for children in school or adults at work. But what about the people who don’t go to either? Seniors with no kids at home and who retired from the workforce are often being left to flounder when it comes to AI. Digital immigrants, as they’re sometimes called, have to contend with a world where AI is slipping into every crevice while missing out on opportunities to learn about AI safety. Older adults are being left out of these AI safety conversations “mostly by omission rather than intention,” says Gretchen Terry-Leonard, cofounder and chief strategy and impact officer of the Center for Deeply Human Leadership, a nonprofit institute researching how AI impacts human judgment. This omission, however, leaves an entire generation vulnerable to AI slop, scams, and other dangers. In some cases, older adults might turn to younger family members, friends, or the news to piece together some idea of AI’s risks—like deepfakes or misinformation. Other times, they might not realize that they’re using AI given how stealthily it has become int…