Plain answers about AI. No hype, no fear.
Built for our class at the Senior Center. Everything here is written in plain English and checked against trusted sources.
The "grandchild voice" phone call
Scammers can now copy a family member's voice from a short video clip and call you sounding exactly like them, asking for money urgently. The voice is fake. The panic is the trick.
The rule: Hang up and call your family member back at the number you already have. A real emergency survives a two-minute callback.
🎮 Scam or Safe? — The Game
15 real-looking messages — calls, texts, emails, even an AI chatbot. Can you tell which ones bite? Play one a day, or take on all 15. Great to play with family.
Play Scam or Safe?🧠 New: How AI Actually Works
Press Play and watch a ChatGPT-style AI build an answer — one guessed word at a time. Two minutes, no jargon, and suddenly the "magic" makes sense.
Watch how AI works📖 Class Materials
Handouts and slides from each session, posted after class so you can review at home.
🚨 Known Scams
The five AI-powered scams hitting people our age right now — real cases, and the simple defense that beats each one.
🔍 Check a Scam
Got a strange call, email, or text? Answer five quick questions before you click or reply.
🔗 Trusted Links
Hand-picked resources: FTC fraud alerts, AARP Fraud Watch, and our San Mateo County helplines.
📖 Class Materials
Our 4-week class: What's All This AI About? Every handout and slide deck is posted below — click any 📄 link to open it, then print or save it. Printed copies are always available in class — you never need a computer to keep up.
Questions between classes? Email me any time: rsellers@sonic.net — I read every message.
📄 Take-home guides & homework
📄 Student Handout Packet — all 8 take-home guides, from AI Basics to your Personal AI Safety Plan.
📄 Homework Assignments — all four weekly assignments on one page each.
📄 Current Topics — Summer 2026 — real Bay Area AI scam stories we discuss in class.
AI Without the Hype
What AI is (and isn't), in plain terms. Where you already use it every day — voice assistants, fraud detection at your bank, and more. Our class mantra: useful AI, minimal exposure, human verification.
📄 Week 1 Slides · 📄 Welcome Sheet — schedule, mantra, and this website's address.
📄 Bonus deck: How AI Actually Works — the history of AI and what's inside it, in 10 slides.
🧠 Prefer to watch? How AI Actually Works — our two-minute animated tour.
AI in Daily Life & Aging in Place
Practical helpers: reminders, health questions done safely, staying independent at home. What to try, what to skip, and how to keep your private information private.
📄 Week 2 Slides — helper vs. authority, the prompt makeover, and the AI postcard demo.
Scams, Deepfakes & Self-Defense
The heart of the course. Voice cloning, fake videos, AI-written phishing emails — how to spot them and the simple habits that defeat them.
📄 Week 3 Slides — the new threats, the Red-Flag Trio, and your Behavioral Shield.
🎮 Warm up before class: play Scam or Safe? — the same game we open with each week.
Your Personal AI Safety Plan
We put it all together: your family code word, your callback rule, your trusted-numbers card, and a one-page plan you take home.
📄 Week 4 Slides · 📄 Trusted Resources one-pager — print it and keep it by your phone.
Missed a class? Materials stay posted here all season, and printed copies are at the Senior Center front desk. Questions? Email rsellers@sonic.net.
🚨 Known Scams
These are the scams actually hitting people our age right now — and how AI has made each one more convincing. Every story below really happened. Every defense below really works.
📞 The cloned-voice family emergency
AI can copy anyone's voice from just a few seconds of audio — a voicemail greeting, or a short video of your grandchild on Facebook. Scammers call sounding exactly like a loved one in trouble: arrested, in the hospital, needing money quietly and immediately. The voice is fake. The panic is the trick.
It really happens: prosecutors charged a ring that ran this scam from an overseas call center, using family details to steal more than $5 million from over 400 victims — average age 84.
The defense: hang up and call your family member back at the number you already have. A real emergency survives a two-minute callback. A family code word makes you even safer.
💊 The famous face selling a health "breakthrough"
AI "deepfake" videos put real celebrities' faces and voices on products they've never heard of. Fake videos of Bill Gates, Anderson Cooper, and Bruce Willis have "endorsed" a honey-based Alzheimer's cure. A fake Oprah pushed a weight-loss salt. One woman was fooled by an ad using a deepfake of her own real doctor.
The product is worthless — but the deeper trap is the subscription: recurring credit-card charges victims report being unable to cancel or refund. Anti-aging cures, memory pills, miracle supplements: this is one of the biggest scam categories aimed at people our age.
The honest truth: real healthy aging — movement, sleep, connection, taking care of yourself — is not sold in a bottle from a social-media ad, and it never asks for your card number.
The defense: celebrities and doctors do not sell miracle cures in online ads. Ever. Before buying any health product you saw in an ad, talk to your actual doctor or pharmacist first.
✉️ The perfect phishing message
You may have learned to spot scam emails by their typos and odd grammar. That advice is out of date: AI now writes most phishing messages, and they arrive flawless — correct logos, your real name, sometimes your real bank. The polish proves nothing anymore.
The defense: judge the ask, not the spelling. Any message that wants you to click a link, "verify" your information, or act urgently gets checked through the front door — type your bank's address yourself, or call the number on the back of your card.
🏛️ The government agency that isn't
Government impersonation cost Americans nearly $800 million last year. The current favorites: a call or official-looking mailer saying Medicare is issuing "new chip-enabled cards" and needs your Medicare number to activate yours — or an AI-generated "official" voice warning your Social Security is about to be suspended unless you act now.
Remember: Medicare and Social Security never call to demand information or payment, and benefits are never suspended by phone.
The defense: hang up. If you're worried, call the number printed on your actual Medicare card or Social Security statement — not any number the caller gives you.
💔 The patient online companion
An attentive stranger appears — on a dating site, on Facebook, or through a "wrong number" text that turns friendly. They are warm, consistent, and never in a hurry. AI supplies their photos (which beat reverse-image search) and can even hold the conversation for them, so one scammer can run dozens of "relationships" at once. After weeks or months comes the crisis ("medical emergency") or the opportunity ("my uncle's investment platform").
The scale: people over 60 lost $584 million to romance and confidence scams last year. Some scammers now even appear on video calls wearing an AI-generated face.
The defense: two unbreakable rules. Never send money to someone you haven't met in person. And anyone who mixes affection with an investment tip is reading from a script — no exceptions.
They all rush you
Every scam above works the same way: it manufactures urgency or strong emotion so you act before you verify. The panic is the trick — and the pause is the defense.
When anything feels urgent, that's your signal to slow down. Take a breath, and run it through the 5-question check.
🔍 Check a Scam
Got a call, text, email, or pop-up that feels off? Answer these five questions honestly. Then read your result — before you click, reply, or pay anything.
The 5-Question Check
Tap Yes or No for each one.
1. Did they contact you first — out of the blue?
2. Are they rushing you? ("Act now," "today only," "don't hang up")
3. Are they asking for money, gift cards, wire transfer, or crypto?
4. Are they asking for passwords, codes, Social Security, or bank numbers?
5. Did they say to keep it secret from family or your bank?
Remember the big three
The callback rule: hang up, look up the real number yourself, and call back. A real emergency survives a two-minute callback.
🔗 Trusted Links & Phone Numbers
Every resource here is hand-picked and verified. Phone numbers are just as good as websites — don't hesitate to call.