Seniors have Q&A “conversation” on AI with AI model Claude

1 hour ago

Andrea Durán,

Ocean Pines, Md. – Members of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines and Ocean City expressed equal parts fascination and skepticism towards their latest speaker, Claude, the Artificial Intelligence from Anthropic.

Club members and guests asked the AI questions on the economy, environmental concerns and intellectual property. The AI Claude, hooked up to a TV monitor and receiving questions through a microphone, encouraged attendees to “trust but verify” any facts since its generated answers can be inaccurate or false.

“I can hallucinate facts, citations, names, dates. I can tell you something false and make it sound entirely plausible,” the Claude AI said in an AI-generated presentation prompted by Lyle Dillon.

Dillon, the speaker coordinator for the club, said he is fascinated by AI and wanted to facilitate a way to get seniors to learn more about it. He said he preferred Anthropic’s AI because he considers Anthropic be more “ethical.”

“It’s a tool, it’s a collaborator. It’s like a junior assistant who’s really bright but doesn’t have a lot of common sense,” he said.

During the presentation, Claude warned seniors to be wary of voice scams and encouraged attendees to talk to professionals on medical, legal and financial matters and contact their representatives if they’re concerned about regulation.

Participants also asked Claude how its AI model differed from AI models like ChatGPT, to which Claude’s generated response was, in part, “where I tend to differ is being more cautious about saying ‘I don’t know’ rather than confidently guessing, and thinking through ambiguous questions before rushing to respond.”

Jacqueline Dubin said the presentation and Q&A session made her more curious about how to use AI as a tool. But she said, like any tool, it can have positives and negatives.

“There’s a knowledge gap, and it could definitely be exploited,” Dubin said. “But we have to ask ourselves how much dependence and independence are we giving up for the availability of using AI?”