Free AI workshops help Louisville seniors learn new tools

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville trainer is offering free artificial intelligence workshops to help seniors and other community members learn how to use AI tools safely and practically.

Janice Baldon-Gutter, an AI community trainer who works for the Digital Transformation Center at the University of Louisville, teaches the workshops at locations across Jefferson County.

A recent class was held at Sun Valley Community Center in Louisville. Cheryl Meyer attended the workshop to learn more about AI. “

You know, my age group, we don’t know a lot about AI,” Meyer said. The class covered the basics of AI tools, including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

People in the class learned about prompts, AI-generated fliers, chat boxes and differences among AI tools.

“Just like the making the pictures, just all that stuff. It’s just been very informative,” Meyer said.

Baldon-Gutter said the workshops focus on practical uses for AI while also addressing safety, security and risk.

“There are good and bad parts of AI. I emphasize good parts about AI,” Baldon-Gutter said. “We talk about data centers. We talk about everything that you can do with AI. We stress the positive parts of AI by helping with healthcare and helping with just everyday things.”

Since April, Baldon-Gutter has traveled to about 25 locations and trained more than 100 people. She currently travels throughout Jefferson County and plans to expand after Jan. 1.

“I’m hoping to get people comfortable with AI,” Baldon-Gutter said. “Make sure that they’re doing safely, security, risk, there are some things you don’t need to put into the AI chat boxes.”

Daneen Woods said the class gave her a useful new skill. “I can take a document or a whole book, like the Medicare manual and simplify it into terms we can understand,” Woods said.

Baldon-Gutter will offer several other free workshops in October. For more information on when and where they are taking place, those who are interested can email her.