Is it hard to get started with AI?

No. It's easier than most people think, especially with an assistant you can talk to, because all you do is ask a question out loud. For most people the hardest part is taking the first step. After that, it quickly becomes a habit.

Many people hold back from new technology for a simple reason: experience has taught them it quickly gets complicated. In the UK, almost half of people aged 75 and over can't do all the basic things needed to get online, according to Age UK. So the doubt is understandable. But AI assistants differ from much of the technology you already know in one important way.

You just talk

Ordinary apps make you learn their language: menus, buttons, symbols. A voice assistant works the other way around and adapts to the way you talk. Research on how older adults use voice assistants points to exactly this: voice control takes little technical experience and works no matter how familiar you are with digital tools. That holds even if your eyesight or your fingers aren't what they used to be.

An American study of people aged 74 to 91 found that their first experience of talking to an assistant was positive, because it felt simple. The same study found that the enthusiasm faded when the assistant needed specific commands and fixed phrases. That's worth knowing, because newer AI assistants have become good at understanding ordinary, natural speech, so you don't need to remember any particular commands.

The hardest part is getting used to it

Fewer than one in four Americans aged 65 and older use AI chatbots like ChatGPT, compared with about half of all adults, according to Pew Research Center. That gap rarely comes down to ability. Talking to a machine simply feels unfamiliar. Most people know the feeling from leaving a voicemail: you know exactly what you want to say, but the moment the recording starts, your mind goes blank.

It passes. People who have gotten started find that the awkwardness of talking to a microphone goes away after the first few conversations, because nobody is listening in or judging you.

How to make the first steps easy

• If you like, ask someone in your family to help you install it. It takes about fifteen minutes for someone who's used to it, and then that part is done.
• Start with three easy questions. A recipe, the weather forecast, or something you've always wondered about. The point is just to get a feel for how it works.
• Talk the way you normally do. There's no special way to phrase things and no words to memorize. Say it the way you'd say it to a person.
• Ask again if the answer isn't clear. The assistant won't get impatient, and you can ask it to explain things another way.

This is general information, not medical advice. Every situation is different, so talk to a doctor about yours.