Silver Surfers: Discovering AI Magic

“I’m too old to learn this computer stuff,”  Joe announced, arms crossed, as I pulled up ChatGPT on my laptop during our weekly session. He’s a grandpa.

Famous words from Joe.

Three weeks later, this same man was teaching me how to use AI to organize his vintage record collection and plan his anniversary trip to Italy. Welcome to the wonderful world of seniors discovering artificial intelligence—where the learning curve becomes a launching pad.

The Grandmother – a Digital Chef

Remember Grandma from my last article? The one whose grandson got hooked on science quizzes? Well, she didn’t stop there. During our next ChatGPT session, she had a wild idea: “Can this thing help me remember all my old family recipes?”

Could it ever! We taught her how to feed ChatGPT descriptions of her mother’s chicken soup (“the one with the secret ingredient I can never quite remember”) and her aunt’s Christmas cookies. The AI helped her organize decades of food memories, suggested measurements for her “pinch of this, handful of that” instructions, and even created printable recipe cards she could share with her kids.

But here’s where it got really fun: she started asking ChatGPT to adapt her recipes. “Make this vegetarian for my granddaughter.” “Convert this to gluten-free.” “What if I don’t have buttermilk?” Her kitchen became a laboratory, and AI became her enthusiastic sous chef.

Grandpa’s- Digital Time Machine

Grandpa Joe, our initial skeptic, discovered something magical: ChatGPT could help him write his life stories. For years, his family had begged him to document his time in the Navy, his adventures hitchhiking across Europe in the ’60s, his first job as a radio DJ.

“I don’t know how to start,” he’d always said. “I’m not a writer.”

I  showed him how to have conversations with ChatGPT about his memories. The AI would ask questions, help him organize timelines, even suggest ways to make his stories more vivid. “Tell me more about the music you played,” ChatGPT would prompt. “What did the ocean smell like that morning?”

Within a month, Grandpa Joe had drafted twenty pages of stories. His grandkids were mesmerized. “These are better than any movie,” his teenage granddaughter told him, eyes wide.

The Unexpected Artists

Then there’s Margaret, a retired librarian who discovered ChatGPT could help her write poetry. Not just any poetry—funny limericks about her garden gnomes, haikus about her grumpy cat, and silly rhymes for her great-grandchildren’s birthdays.

“I always wanted to be creative, but I thought you had to be born that way,” she confided. Now she collaborates with AI, bouncing ideas back and forth, learning about meter and rhyme schemes, and giggling over her own wordplay. She’s even started an “AI Poetry Club”.

When Roles Reverse (In the Best Way)

Here’s what gets me emotional: watching these grandparents become teachers themselves. Grandma now runs informal “Tech Tea Time” sessions at her community center, showing other seniors how to use ChatGPT for everything from planning garden layouts to understanding their medical bills. Grandpa Joe teaches digital storytelling at the local library. Margaret hosts poetry workshops.

The kids and grandkids who once patiently explained how to attach photos to emails? Now they’re asking their grandparents for AI tips.

The Beautiful Cycle

What started as me sharing some tech tricks has blossomed into something bigger. These seniors aren’t just learning—they’re creating, connecting, and contributing. They’re bridging generational gaps in both directions: teaching their grandkids patience and storytelling while learning technology from younger folks.

Last week, Grandma’s science-loving grandson helped her create an AI-powered plant identification guide for her garden. Grandpa Joe’s granddaughter is helping him turn his stories into a podcast. Margaret’s great-grandson illustrated her poems with AI-generated art.

A Moment of Reflection

After one particularly lively session at the Senior Net center, Allan Chee—my old tutor and the heart behind this entire setup—pulled me aside. We sat watching Margaret excitedly explaining the concept of prompts in ChatGPT to her colleague, her hands animated, her eyes bright.

“Remember when I first taught you about computers?” Allan asked, a smile playing at his lips. “You were so frustrated (“totally useless” would have been a better word) with that old 386 clunky desktop running Windows 311.”

I laughed. “And now look at us, teaching AI to people who thought they’d never touch anything close to AI.”

Allan nodded thoughtfully. “That’s the thing about education. It’s never really about the big dramatic moments. It’s these small steps—one coffee, one conversation, one ‘let me show you this’ at a time. Look at Margaret. Three months ago, she was afraid to click anything. Now she’s teaching others.”

He gestured around the room at seniors clustered around screens, helping each other, laughing, discovering. “Education isn’t just about learning facts. It’s about enlightenment—that moment when someone realizes they can do something they thought was impossible. And active living? That’s what happens when people stop saying ‘I’m too old’ and start saying ‘show me how.'”

“Small steps,” I repeated.

“Small steps,” Allan agreed. “But watch where they lead.”

The Real Revolution

This is how communities thrive. This is how families grow stronger. This is the transfer of skills in action—not top-down, not one-directional, but circular, cooperative, and beautiful.

We often talk about upskilling in corporate terms: certifications, courses, professional development. But real upskilling happens around kitchen tables and coffee shops, in community centers and living rooms. It happens when someone takes the time to say, “Let me show you this cool thing,” and when someone else has the courage to say, “Okay, show me.”

These grandparents aren’t just learning to use AI. They’re modeling lifelong learning, proving it’s never too late to try something new, and showing their families that education doesn’t stop at any age.

The best part? They’re having an absolute blast doing it.

Because that’s what cooperative communities do: we teach, we learn, we lift each other up—one ChatGPT session at a time.

A “thank you” to Soren Neupane for sending this article to The Upper Hutt Connection.

14/10/25