A college student is hosting free seminars to teach the elderly about how to navigate the reality of artificial intelligence in today’s world.
Lakshmi Katrapati has been working with senior centers in Madison County to provide free presentations on artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and online scam awareness. So far, she has given about seven presentations at local senior centers with a total of 100 students.
During presentations, Katrapati said she has seen seniors ask thoughtful questions and take notes.
“They have a real interest and willingness to learn,” Katrapati said.
Most recently, Katrapati presented to a class at Peach Tree Village in Brandon and has taught classes at the recently opened The Oaks Residence in Gluckstadt and The Madison Place in Madison.
The classes started after she heard about an elderly person who had been scammed out of $30,000. She said the victim sent the money to invest in a company after seeing an AI deepfake video of Elon Musk. Katrapati said she thought of the possibility of her own grandparents falling for such a scheme.
“The senior scam industry is huge,” she said.
The classes started as a community outreach program in Northern Virginia, where she is a college student. She said she and about five other volunteers gave presentations to over 300 seniors during more than two dozen seminars before she came to Mississippi.
Katrapati is a junior majoring in computer science at George Mason University. She is from Northern Virginia and is in Ridgeland this summer for an internship. She said she has enjoyed her summer in Mississippi so far.
“I like it,” she said. “People have been so welcoming.”
She did offer one caveat.
“It is hot, though,” Katrapati said.
Katrapati has classes lined up through August 12. Moving forward, she would like to work with organizations like AARP to set up a curriculum that could be implemented anywhere.
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