A mother and daughter explored AI together. A grandfather used the technology to compose a musical score to play with his grandson. And generations of other community members at a recent workshop on AI in Highland Park proved that age is no barrier to use of the emerging technology.
A group of about 25 gathered at Highland Park Town Hall on Aug. 1 for the first AI Equity Project workshop, which was hosted by the Highland Park Library but open to all. The AI Equity Project is a student-led nonprofit organization that seeks to make AI education more accessible.
The organization was founded by Kiran Raja, a senior at the Alcuin School. Its model uses student volunteers to guide communities through workshops about AI with a focus on ensuring older adults can sharpen their knowledge of the technology.
“Just because you’re not the standard demographic that people think of as using AI, that doesn’t mean that you can’t use it to its fullest potential,” Raja said.
After a presentation by Raja about what AI is and how to create prompts, participants worked on projects using Google’s Gemini.
Suggestions included using Gemini to create a podcast or audio story, build an interactive learning plan, or transcribe and organize handwritten recipes.
Liz Patterson, who uses AI in her work for data services companies, brought her mother, Jeannette, to the workshop to learn more about AI.
“She’s catching on pretty quickly,” Liz said.
Rudy Moras decided to attend the workshop after watching an interview with Paulina Barsook, author of the book Cyberselfish, about the influence of tech companies and Silicon Valley.
“I think it’s in the best interest of all of us to understand what we’re all facing,” Moras said. “Like it or not, this is with us to stay, and if anything, it’s going to be even more all-pervasive. So we’re better off knowing what we’re dealing with.”
While at the workshop, Moras employed AI to create a musical score to use when he and his grandson play the violin and cello together.
The AI Equity Project has hosted events at other North Texas libraries. Raja said the group will host another workshop at Highland Park Town Hall in January.
Note: The version that ran in the September issue stated that the next workshop would be held Oct. 3. Organizers after publication said that that date fell through and the next workshop will held in January.
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