Silicon Valley’s seniors get a crash course in AI

By Yahya Salem, Emma Lacey-Bordeaux, CNN

(CNN) — Jacob Shaul is the kind of rising high school student who spends Saturdays playing chess and devours books by Malcom Gladwell and Angela Duckworth. He can just as readily explain the principles of quantum computing as he can bang out a drum solo with his band. And, after learning to code himself, he decided to share his passion by founding a nonprofit that has brought free courses on coding to more than a thousand students across five continents.

What started as a one-man “test run” at Shaul’s former middle school, Live Oak School, is now a 16-person operation offering weeks-long, online and in-person courses across more than 30 institutions, including more than a dozen schools and assisted-living facilities in the Bay Area, where Shaul lives. Shaul and his volunteers take the bus, since none of them has a driver’s license. Not yet, anyway.

“I genuinely just enjoy teaching tech to people,” Shaul, 17, says when asked why he spends his free time this way. “I want to utilize the power that tech has and help people use it.”

Shaul launched Mode to Code in 2024 after feeling teens had an easier time learning about the ins and outs of computing from a peer. Shaul and his high school friends teach courses on AI, web and video game development at nine Bay Area schools, even partnering with local initiatives and nonprofits, such as Breakthrough Summerbridge and Young STEAMers, which offer educational opportunities to under-resourced students. Their international classes have an equally impressive reach, from India to Italy, from Botswana to Bolivia, and still looking to reach farther.

But it wasn’t until March of this year that Shaul expanded his classroom from predominantly middle schoolers to include seniors at assisted living facilities. According to Shaul, his mother persuaded him to introduce his program to Rhoda Goldman Plaza, an assisted living facility in San Francisco. Over the past six months, the program has grown with Shaul offering his free class to about 20-or-so facilities. Seven took him up on it, and Shaul and his volunteers teach classes once a week for four weeks and continue to provide one-on-one assistance to seniors who seek further support.

It turns out senior citizens are also open to learning about tech from a teen. When Shaul and his volunteers show up in their matching Mode to Code polos, they’re met by around a dozen seniors in facilities around the Bay Area. From tech lessons to tech support, Shaul’s five-week-long program offers a positive space for the curious seniors who might be intrigued by the possible applications of AI in their daily lives or are simply looking to set up their emails on their phones.

“They know a lot more than I expected them to,” said Shaul, highlighting his senior students’ inquisitiveness and perceptiveness.

The goal of these classes is to “bridge the digital divide between generations,” according to 17-year-old program co-leader Aydin Khaleeli, who was inspired to join Mode to Code as a teacher by tech challenges he faced connecting with his grandparents in Pakistan.

Khaleeli said he is concerned that people “really get left behind” because they lack basic knowledge in tech and AI.

A very vulnerable group

Like any good teacher, Shaul and the volunteers are responsive to their students’ needs. While the classes are designed to be “one size fits all,” as Shaul describes it, he curates certain elements to make technology “useful on a day-to-day basis.”

These seniors, who live just outside the global tech hub of Silicon Valley, were already familiar with many of the high-tech tools, using AI to do everything from generating obituary drafts to helping with translation. But Shaul’s tutorials have helped give them deeper confidence.

Ed Kaplan, who had a career as an environmental scientist, showed up to Shaul’s classes believing he was ahead of the curve. He uses ChatGPT readily and knows to always check the footnotes, especially on hot or contentious topics. Kaplan turned to the tool when a friend, who was grieving their spouse, needed inspiration and help composing an obit. He gathered all the important details about this person’s life, plugged them in, and marveled at the quality of content he got back “in eight seconds.” His friend, although initially taken aback, appreciated the copy.

But for Kaplan and other seniors, a bigger priority is detecting online and phone scams. Americans over the age of 60 reported losing $4.9 billion from scams in 2024 — a 43% increase from 2023, according to data from the FBI.

Shaul and Khaleeli devote an entire week to explaining how to avoid scams. Scammers have become more sophisticated, and retirees are often their prime targets.

Their email inboxes overflow with scam offers of tech assistance. Text messages pop up offering to get them out of debt with the IRS, and the talk around the lunch tables often centers around the growing number of phone calls they get. They get callers insisting their grandchildren need help, with the stakes so high they feel they must act immediately. Staff and seniors alike believe shame helps enable these scammers because no one wants to admit they got deceived.

Paulette Aroesty, 87, has gotten calls like this. “Seniors are a very vulnerable group,” said Aroesty, adding that “sometimes they will answer the phone just for company or be a little fuzzy on things, and seniors do follow orders more.”

Kaplan said that when it comes to scams, even well-educated people are susceptible to getting duped. As an example, Kaplan cited a physician who had lost $2,000 to $3,000. The physician “didn’t tell us until he joined our dinner table and until someone else had the strength to say they’d been scammed,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan and Aroesty spoke about the importance of a forum where seniors could discuss such topics openly, get help and not feel ashamed. Kaplan said openness and asking for help can thwart these plots. He shared a story of how a scammer once tried to convince an acquaintance to put cash into a foil package and leave it at a shipping site. But the woman had mentioned what she’d done to a retirement home staffer who intervened, and the pair were able to snag the package just before it shipped off, saving her $800.

Aroesty nearly got tricked by a scammer who had offered tech help when she ran into an issue with an iPad. When the scammer contacted her and offered to fix it, she nearly consented. But his incessant pushing for a debit card number over the phone raised suspicions. Aroesty tested her hunch by telling the man she didn’t have a debit card. What happened next confirmed it: “He got upset and hung up on me,” she said with a laugh.

Aging population and AgeTech

According to the Census Bureau in 2024, nearly one in five people in the United States were 65 and older — a figure projected to increase. Globally, the number of people in this age group is projected to reach 1.6 trillion in 2050, according to the United Nations. This aging population, fueled by its increasing reliance on technology for connectiveness and convenience, created a lucrative opportunity for companies to invest in a rapidly growing category of technology solutions, conveniently dubbed “AgeTech.”

AgeTech, which sometimes lowers its threshold of older adults to include anyone over 50, is comprised of technology and services designed to help its target demographic elevate its quality of life. Many well-known companies across diverse sectors, including CVS Health, Hyundai and Best Buy, are investing in this category as they eye shares of the more than $120 billion in tech spending among those 50 and older, according to AARP forecasts for 2030.

The rise of AgeTech has created an opportunity for Shaul to collaborate with The Smarter Service, an IT services company which describes itself as an “older adult tech concierge.” Between his studies, his desire to expand Mode to Code, and the fact that he “can’t be everywhere at once,” Shaul has often referred his students to The Smarter Service for more personalized consultations.

No substitute for in-person learning

Shaul hopes to translate his computer passion into a career in computer science, specifically software engineering, leaving Mode to Code to others who can develop it further and expand its reach.

“My hope is that someone in my school or someone that I’m working with ultimately takes up the project after me,” he said. “I definitely want it to continue.”

But for all his love of tech, the secret to his success— especially among the senior set — may have more to do with something old-fashioned: face-to-face connection. It’s one reason his team’s work with retirees has remained local.

For Geoffrey Washburn, the director of life enrichment at Franks Residences, it was no brainer to say yes when Shaul pitched him on teaching residents. Washburn said he knows the residents always need tech support, and he knows how much better in-person learning opportunities are, especially on dense topics like tech.

At a recent session at Franks Residences, that level of comfort was obvious.

Seniors peppered Shaul and Khaleeli with all kinds of questions, everything from how to organize their smartphones to what the two were planning to study in college. And they, in turn, did everything they could to make their students feel comfortable and empowered. For Shaul, seniors understanding how to use their phones for everything from a magnifying glass to their podcast app can help them navigate their lives better.

Aroesty, for one, doesn’t need much convincing. She loves the ability to FaceTime with her grandchildren and use Alexa to turn off her lights. Still, she misses the good old days when college tuition only cost $22, and you could talk face-to-face with a person instead of chatting with a bot.

It’s another reason to appreciate what Mode to Code is offering up — one senior session at a time.

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