OpenAI and AARP Take Free ChatGPT Workshops to 1,000 Older Adults in 10 US Cities

OpenAI Academy, working with Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) from AARP, is hosting the Older Adults AI Skills Jam, a free in-person learning experience that helps older adults use ChatGPT confidently and safely in 10 communities across the United States.

The sessions are being run with Senior Planet, OATS' flagship program, and local organizations that support older adults. The communities named by OpenAI include Senior Planet sites in Denver, Miami, San Antonio, Montgomery County in Maryland and Queens in New York, plus partners in St. Louis, the Twin Cities, Nashville, Fresno and Boise.

OpenAI points to its own data to explain the need: in the United States, the share of messages associated with people aged 55 and older grew from 6% to nearly 10% in a year, as older adults turn to ChatGPT for practical guidance, finding information and writing.

Online safety is a core part of the program. The workshop walks through common warning signs, including urgent language, secrecy and suspicious links, and drills in a simple rule: pause, think, and ask.

OpenAI says tens of millions of times a week people ask ChatGPT for help evaluating suspicious messages, emails and websites, and describes the training as a complement to its broader work to prevent, detect and disrupt fraud and scams.

The event is not a one-off. It is part of a multi-year effort OpenAI launched with OATS through the Senior Planet program, and it builds on previous OpenAI Academy jams held with nonprofits, small businesses and K-12 educators.

Taking the classroom directly into communities shows OpenAI treating AI literacy as growth infrastructure rather than charity. Older adults are a prime target for scams and misinformation, so teaching them to use the product safely builds trust that a feature demo cannot.

What to watch next is whether these workshops become a standing community curriculum and expand beyond the first 10 cities, and whether OpenAI starts measuring the program the way it measures product adoption.