What your GenX & Millennial family want you to know about using AI
Artificial intelligence has bucked generational trends, according to research from Numerator. Analyzing more than 5,000 consumers’ views about AI, the survey showed that AI adoption, at least when it comes to online shopping, is roughly equal across generations. By contrast, younger generations had traditionally been the earliest tech adopters. Just think of GenX playing Oregon Trail and Lemonade Stand on our Commodore PCs or downloading AOL off a CD-Rom to access the Internet via a dial-up modem.
Read: 7 Ways to Make Your Smartphone Easier To Use as You Age
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Many of us learned to program our VCR at age 12 because our parents couldn’t get the clock to stop blinking. But that stereotype of older generations not understanding tech has been turned on its head with AI use. When it comes to generative AI, we’re all new to it and learning it together. The Numerator study showed, “a 25-year-old and 65-year-old are equally likely to sit anywhere on the spectrum [of AI adoption.]”
Even so, older folks who have just grown accustomed to using their smartphone may face more challenges getting up to speed.
“It’s not just about going to a site, typing something into a box, and pressing enter. It’s about how we interact with these tools,” Macaulee Cassaday, program director for the non-profit organization Cyber-Seniors, said in a blog post.
Cassaday noted that seniors are curious about technology like ChatGPT but may not know where to begin. This multigenerational adoption of AI means we can all learn from each other. Here are a few things to know to get the most out of AI technology.
Think about what daily tasks AI can take off your plate
We all have household or work-related administrative tasks that can be simplified.
“It handles the boring work,” said Duncan Barrigan, founder and CEO of Lunos AI. Lunos AI automates invoicing and collections for business owners, executives, and accounts receivable departments. But the concept of freeing up time you previously spent on tedious tasks can apply to anyone, at work or at home.
“Think about where the stakes are lowest [and] where the work is super annoying,” Barrigan said. That’s a good place to start using AI to automate various aspects of your life.
For instance, you can tell ChatGPT or Claude AI all the food in your refrigerator and pantry and ask it to help plan meals for the week. It can troubleshoot quick, at-home appliance repair. You can use it to create checklists for travel, housework, or daily routines.
You can also use it for research, getting answers in a conversational, non-overwhelming way.
“It’s not just about going to a site, typing something into a box, and pressing enter. It’s about how we interact with these (AI) tools.”
Macaulee Cassaday, program director for Cyber-Seniors
Don’t trust everything it says
Be aware that some AI chatbots, including ChatGPT and Claude, are prone to “hallucinations” or creating false information when they can’t find an answer. Hallucination rates have dropped dramatically in the past year. In one March 2025 study by Columbia Journalism Review, reported by VisualCapitalist.com, hallucination rates for the major AI platforms ranged from 37% for Perplexity up to 94% by Grok. ChatGPT had a 67% hallucination rate when prompted to cite news sources from an excerpt entered in the platform.
The website AIMultiple.com did a separate study in April 2026, discovering that Grok’s hallucination rate was roughly 15%, while ChatGPT’s was 22%.
Bottom line: Fact check information against both common sense and other sources, especially when accuracy matters.
For better results, learn how to construct an effective prompt
The age-old computer programming adage, “Garbage In, Garbage Out” still applies to AI. Crafting an effective prompt increases the odds you’ll receive a useful response.
“You need to tell it what you want and explicitly what to avoid,” Barrigan explained. “The biggest mistake people make is one-line prompts.”
For instance, you could ask ChatGPT or another AI platform to craft an email on a specific topic. But what you get may not be usable or sound like you.
“If you add who the [recipient] is, though, what the relationship is like, the tone you’d want to use and the kind of detail you need, the quality will jump significantly with that 30 extra seconds of input,” Barrigan said.
Use the right AI tool for each job
For most users, ChatGPT or Claude works well enough for things like travel planning, daily scheduling or brainstorming ideas. Some people say they prefer Claude for writing and that Gemini excels in image creation, but most of the major generative AI chat platforms (Claude, Grok, ChatGPT, and Gemini) can do these things to some extent. For advanced video creation, you’ll want to consider apps like Sora or Canva.
“General chat is good when you just need a quick answer once for something, and you use specialized AI when you need an answer every day,” Barrigan said. “For example, ChatGPT, Claude and the others are great for one-off creative answers.”
These programs don’t necessarily remember details from one conversation to another, and they aren’t always good at highly specialized, specific tasks. If you need something to remember details and maintain continuity – especially if it’s business or work-related — look into specialized apps.
Use common sense and caution – just as you would with any online app
Most people understand how to recognize and avoid common scams, including texts or phone calls phishing for personal data high-pressure social media messages impersonating a loved one, and tech support scams that come in the form of fake pop-up ads. But don’t let your guard down just because an AI chatbot feels like talking to a friend.
It’s important to remember not to share personal information, including your social security number, bank account information, or credit card numbers, with AI chatbots. Follow the same rules you would follow for social media and don’t share personal information.
“Sensitive customer data, legal commitments, and anything with personal info … are areas where people need to be more cautious,” Barrigan said.
Special-use AI-powered apps, like your favorite banking apps or enterprise-level platforms for work, should follow data privacy policies and security regulations to protect your data.
Remember that AI isn’t human, even though it sounds like it
Don’t use AI to make irreversible financial or personal decisions. AI isn’t a therapist, a financial planner, or even a fellow human being with real-life experience to draw on.
A member of the American Psychological Association (APA) recently warned against using AI chatbots for therapy. “Not only were these tools not designed to address mental health or emotional support, but they’re actually being coded in a way to keep you on the platform for as long as possible because that’s the business model,” C. Vaile Wright, licensed psychologist and senior director of the APA’s Office of Health Care Innovation, said in an interview with Scientific American.
It’s okay to brainstorm with ChatGPT, Claude and the others, the same way you might use Google for research. But just as you shouldn’t turn to “Dr. Google” for a serious health condition, be prepared to seek guidance from professionals in areas related to money management, mental health, and other big topics.
