HOW CAN OLDER ADULTS START USING AI TOOLS? A SIMPLE GUIDE.

Introduction

Pick one tool, ask it a question, and see what happens. That's all you need to do to start.

AI tools are less complicated than they look, but nobody explains them without either drowning you in features you don't need or making patronizing assumptions about what you can handle. The process of using AI is straightforward - type a question, get an answer, decide if it's useful.

What makes it feel complicated is the choice paralysis from having dozens of tools available, the uncertainty about which one to pick, and the assumption that you need to understand how it all works before you're allowed to try anything. You don't.

Why it feels complicated when it isn't

AI gets marketed as this revolutionary technology that's going to change everything, which makes it sound like you need training or expertise to use it properly. That's rubbish. The interface is simpler than most things you already use - it's just a box where you type questions in normal English.

The complication comes from companies adding features nobody asked for and then explaining those features badly. Every AI tool now has image generation, voice mode, integration with seventeen other services, custom instructions, and a dozen other capabilities that clutter the interface and make the whole thing look overwhelming.

For basic use, you need exactly one feature - the ability to type a question and get an answer. Everything else can be ignored until you decide you actually want it.

Which tool to pick?

There are six main AI chatbots worth knowing about - ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Grok and Perplexity. They do roughly the same things with slight differences in approach, and picking between them matters less than people think.

If you already use Google products extensively, Gemini integrates with Gmail and Google Docs, which means it can work inside tools you're already familiar with. If you have Windows 11, Copilot is already built into your computer without needing to install anything. If you don't have strong preferences either way, ChatGPT is the most established and has the most resources behind it.

The important bit is picking one and sticking with it long enough to get comfortable, rather than trying to evaluate all of them at once. They're similar enough that learning one teaches you how to use the others if you ever decide to switch.

Setting up an account

Every AI tool requires an account, which takes about two minutes and needs an email address. Some ask for a phone number for verification, most don't require payment details unless you want paid features.

Go to the website - chatgpt.com for ChatGPT, claude.ai for Claude, gemini.google.com for Gemini, copilot.microsoft.com for Copilot, perplexity.ai for Perplexity, or x.com for Grok. Click "Sign up" or "Get started." Enter your email address, choose a password, confirm your email, and you're done.

If you're already signed into Google, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity all let you sign in with your existing Google account without creating separate login details. Copilot uses your Microsoft account if you're signed into Windows. Grok requires an X (Twitter) account, so if you already use X, you're already signed in.

Once you've created an account, you're looking at a mostly empty screen with a text box at the bottom. That's the entire interface for basic use.

Your first question

The box at the bottom is where you type. Click in it, type a question about anything you're genuinely curious about, and press enter.

The question can be as simple as "Why is the sky blue?" or as specific as "Explain the difference between a virus and bacteria in terms a non-scientist would understand." You can ask it to help with tasks like "Write a polite email declining a dinner invitation" or "Summarize the main points of this article" followed by pasting in text.

What you'll get back is a few paragraphs of text attempting to answer your question. Read it. If it's useful, you can ask a follow-up question in the same conversation. If it's not useful, you can either ask it to try again with more detail, or just ignore it and ask something else.

That's the entire process. Type question, read answer, decide if it helped. There's no hidden complexity beyond that.

What to try first

Start with something you're actually curious about rather than testing it with questions you already know the answer to. If you want to understand why your dishwasher keeps leaving residue, ask that. If you're trying to remember the name of that actor who was in that film about the thing, describe what you remember and see if it can work it out.

Practical tasks work well for getting a feel for what AI can do. Ask it to help write an email, explain something you've been meaning to look up, summarize a long article you don't have time to read properly, or suggest a gift for someone based on their interests.

The point isn't to find the perfect question but to ask something where you'll actually care about the answer, because that tells you whether the tool is useful for you rather than just demonstrating that it works.

When it gets things wrong

AI will confidently tell you things that are completely made up, and it won't warn you when it's doing this. That's not a bug you can report, it's how the technology works, and it's something you need to watch for.

If the answer includes specific facts like dates, names, statistics, or quotes, be suspicious. AI is particularly bad at getting details right even when the general explanation is sound. If something sounds slightly off or contradicts what you thought you knew, look it up elsewhere before trusting it.

The rule is simple - if accuracy matters, verify everything. Use AI to get a starting point or a first draft, not as your only source of information for anything important.

The features you can ignore - for now

Most AI tools have a settings menu, customization options, voice mode, image generation, and various other capabilities that the interface tries to sell you on. You don't need any of it to start.

Voice mode lets you talk instead of typing, which is useful if you prefer that but not necessary. Image generation does what it says but isn't relevant if you just want help with text. Custom instructions let you tell the AI how you want it to respond, which matters only after you've used it enough to have preferences.

All of these features can be ignored completely until you decide you want them. The basic interface of typing questions and getting answers is all you need to determine whether AI is useful for you.

If you get stuck

The most common place people get stuck is not knowing what to ask. That's fine, and it doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. AI is a general-purpose tool, which means it's up to you to find uses that matter to you rather than the tool telling you what it's for.

If you try it a few times and nothing feels useful, that's also fine. Not everyone needs AI in their life, and there's no obligation to use it just because other people are. The technology exists if you want it, but it's not mandatory.

If you do find it useful and want to get better at it, the only way forward is practice. Ask more questions, try different types of requests, notice what works and what doesn't. There's no manual to read or course to take, just trial and error until you develop a feel for it.

The honest assessment

Starting with AI isn't complicated, but it does require getting past the initial feeling that you're supposed to know more than you do. You're not. Everyone using these tools is making it up as they go along, and the interface is designed to be simple enough that you can just start trying things without preparation.

Pick a tool, create an account, ask a question, and see what happens. If it's useful, keep going. If it's not, try something else or decide it's not for you. There's no right way to do this, no prerequisite knowledge required, and no exam at the end.

The barrier is almost entirely psychological rather than technical, and the only way through it is trying something and discovering it's less complicated than it looked from the outside.

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