On September 16, OpenAI announced the Older Adults AI Skills Jam, a series of free in-person workshops running in 10 US cities. Working with OATS from AARP, the program will teach 1,000 older adults how to use ChatGPT. What stands out is that spotting scam messages sits at the center of the curriculum rather than at the edges[1].
1,000 Participants Across 10 Cities, Free to Attend
The program is led by OpenAI Academy together with OATS (Older Adults Technology Services) from AARP, an organization focused on technology support for older adults. The two have a multi-year effort underway, and this Skills Jam runs through OATS's flagship Senior Planet program[1].
Ten communities will host the events, each in partnership with a local organization. Senior Planet covers five of them: Denver, Colorado; Miami, Florida; San Antonio, Texas; Montgomery County, Maryland; and Queens, New York. The rest are handled by The Mirowitz Center in St. Louis, Missouri; Senior Community Services in the Twin Cities, Minnesota; the Nashville Public Library and FiftyForward in Nashville, Tennessee; Fresno EOC in Fresno, California; and LEARN Idaho in Boise, Idaho[1].
The use cases the program targets are practical ones: planning a trip, making sense of a confusing letter or bill, recognizing a possible scam, taking up a new hobby, and staying connected with family and friends[1].
Messages From People 55 and Older Grew From 6 to Nearly 10 Percent in a Year
OpenAI points to usage data as the reason for the push. In the US, the share of messages associated with people aged 55 and older grew from 6 percent to nearly 10 percent over the course of a year. The most common uses are practical guidance, finding information, and writing[1].
Outside research points the same way. An AARP survey on technology trends among older adults found that AI use in this group has doubled, with another 30 percent saying they are excited about its potential[2][3]. The assumption that older adults sit far away from AI no longer holds up well against the numbers.
Pause, Think, and Ask
Online safety carries significant weight in the workshop. Sessions walk through three common warning signs of fraud: urgent language, requests for secrecy, and suspicious links. The guidance that follows is deliberately simple, summed up as pause, think, and ask[1].
ChatGPT is framed here as an additional layer of scrutiny. According to OpenAI, people ask for help evaluating suspicious messages, emails, and websites tens of millions of times a week[1].
OpenAI is also clear that AI does not replace human judgment. In its September announcement with AARP, the company noted that while ChatGPT can help flag suspicious content, it should be paired with personal judgment and basic safety habits such as avoiding links and not sharing personal information[2]. Holding that line inside the workshops will likely determine how useful the training turns out to be.
Part of a Multi-Year Effort With AARP
The Skills Jam is not a one-off event. OpenAI and AARP announced a multi-year effort in September 2025, starting with an OpenAI Academy video on using ChatGPT to spot scams[2].
The funding groundwork goes back further. In 2024, OpenAI worked with OATS to launch the Societal Resilience Fund, a 2 million USD (about 310 million yen) commitment supported by Microsoft that strengthened Senior Planet and related work[2].
1 USD = 155 JPY (as of September 16, 2026)
The next phase covers an updated Senior Planet curriculum and subgrants to local partners to scale AI literacy, a new course on privacy and data protection along with specialized training for AARP state offices, and an annual national survey of AI use among older adults[2]. Teaching, protecting, and measuring are meant to run in parallel.
OpenAI Academy, for its part, has reached more than 2 million people in its first year[2]. In-person programs like this one are how that largely online effort reaches local communities.
Summary
The Older Adults AI Skills Jam from OpenAI and OATS delivers free in-person ChatGPT training to 1,000 older adults across 10 US cities. With the share of messages from people 55 and older climbing from 6 percent to nearly 10 percent in a year, the program follows real usage rather than anticipating it. Building the curriculum around scam prevention while stating plainly that AI does not substitute for human judgment marks a practical position for AI literacy education of this kind.
Source: https://openai.com/index/helping-older-adults-use-ai-in-everyday-life
Source: https://openai.com/index/aarp-partnership-older-adults-online-safety/
