Age-friendly AI: Ireland s national AI literacy programme for older adults

AI s rapid advancement offers both opportunities and challenges for older adults, who risk being marginalised by technologies they could otherwise benefit from. Age-Friendly AI, Ireland s National AI Literacy Programme for Older Adults will engage 60,000 older adults across Ireland in a conversation about AI and its relevance to their daily lives. The project is split into two phases. Phase 1, currently underway, uses a co-creation approach via a series of interactive, multi-stakeholder workshops involving older adults, organizations that support them and policymakers. Based on the insights gathered from these interactions, a tailored and accessible AI literacy programme will be co-created. In phase 2, the co-created train-Thetrainer programme will also be hosted with partner groups in libraries across Ireland to equip community facilitators, librarians and age-friendly organisations with the skills and resources needed to deliver the AI literacy programme to older adults in their local communities. In this position paper, we present our methodology for engaging stakeholders at co-creation workshops and present initial findings from surveys that were administered and discussions that were facilitated at these sessions. Our findings highlight that older adults recognize the potential of AI to support independence, healthcare and social connection while also raising concerns about privacy, trust, bias and the preservation of human interaction. We discuss how these insights will shape the development of an accessible AI literacy programme for older adults.