No computer degree required.
Large-print guide
This booklet is for you if you have heard about AI and wondered whether it is for you.
Maybe you are curious. Maybe you are a little nervous. Maybe someone in the family keeps saying you should try it. All of that is normal.
Here is the promise: you can learn this slowly, in small pieces, and you cannot break anything by trying.
The cards do the teaching. This booklet explains the ideas behind them and keeps the important safety rules in one place.
An AI helper is a computer program you can talk to in ordinary sentences.
You type or say a question. It writes back an answer.
It has read an enormous amount of writing, so it is good at explaining, suggesting ideas, rewording things and making lists.
It is not a person. It does not know you. It does not always know what is true, and sometimes it is wrong while sounding completely sure.
The best way to think of it: a well-read friend who is helpful, tireless and sometimes confidently mistaken.
1. Keep private things private. Never type your Social Security number, Medicare number, bank or card numbers, or passwords. No real helper needs them.
2. Check before you trust. Before you act on anything about health, money or the law, check it with a person you trust or an official source.
3. Hurry means stop. “Act now,” “don’t tell anyone” and “pay with gift cards” are the words of a scam. Real banks, offices and family will wait while you check.
4. Call back on a number you already have. If a call or message says someone you love is in trouble, hang up and call them back on the number you know. Voices and pictures can be faked.
5. You are still in charge. You decide what to ask, what to believe and what to do. You can stop at any time.
You need three things:
There are several well-known AI helpers, and the free versions are enough to start. Ask a family member, a friend or your local librarian to set one up with you. Ask them to write down below where to find it.
Get it only from your phone’s official app store or the company’s own website. Never from a link in an email or a text message.
You do not need special words. Talk to it the way you would talk to a helpful neighbor.
Three steps work almost every time:
Say it plainly. “I have chicken, rice and an onion. What could I make?”
Ask again. “Make it simpler.” “Shorter, please.” “Say that another way.”
Check it. “How sure are you?” Then check anything important somewhere else.
If a conversation goes in circles, start a new one. That is not failing. It is how everyone uses it.
The deck has five colors. Each color is a different part of life.
Pick one card at a time. Read the gray box out loud, or type it in. Then try the next line. The last line on every card is the safety step. Do not skip it.
Keep the cards you like by your computer. Put the rest back in the box.
Stop. Hang up the phone or close the window.
Do not send money, gift cards or codes.
Call someone you trust and tell them what happened. There is no shame in it. Scams fool careful, smart people every day.
To report a scam: ReportFraud.ftc.gov
For free help and advice: the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline, 877-908-3360. You do not need to be a member.
If you are a son, daughter, grandchild, friend or volunteer helping someone start:
Where my AI helper is on my device:
Who helped me set it up:
Who to call if I am not sure about something:
Name: Phone:
Name: Phone:
My family has agreed on a code word. (Keep it in your head, not on this page.)
This deck and booklet are independent. No AI company paid for them or reviewed them.