Generative AI adoption in Poland remains below the EU average, with particularly low use among older adults (a few per cent in Poland according to OECD), which may deepen digital inequalities. This paper explores how future educators conceptualize the opportunities and risks of introducing AI literacy to older adults within an intergenerational geragogical framework. Particular attention is given to the ways in which AI literacy can support older adults’ everyday functioning, social participation, autonomy, and access to information, while also raising concerns related to exclusion, dependency, misinformation, and ethical use. To analyze these issues, this study draws on the relational model of digital competence, linking seniors’ life needs with the digital competences required to respond to them.
This study used an exploratory qualitative design. Written statements from pedagogy students to pre-service teachers (phase I of the PRODIGI project; January 2026) were analyzed using thematic analysis. In the analysis of qualitative data, categories were identified in accordance with the thematic analysis approach proposed by Braun and Clarke. The process involved identifying recurring themes in the participants’ statements, coding the material, and gradually grouping the codes into broader thematic categories. The analytical framework organized meaning into two overarching areas: opportunities and risks while preserving methodological transparency and an inclusive, non-stereotyping perspective on later-life learning.
Students consistently framed AI education for older adults as a pathway to digital inclusion: reducing technological barriers, increasing autonomy in everyday online activities, improving access to information, supporting communication, and offering cognitive stimulation. Simultaneously, they highlighted key risks: technostress and cognitive overload, vulnerability to misinformation and “hallucinated” content, excessive trust/anthropomorphization of AI, privacy and data-security threats, and the potential for problematic overuse. Importantly, respondents emphasized that effective courses should go beyond tool operation and integrate content verification, critical thinking, and digital hygiene, with teaching paced and contextualized to older adults’ lived experiences.
Findings suggest that AI literacy interventions for older adults should be designed as technologically responsible education combining operational skills with epistemic and protective competences. The results also underline the strategic role of younger adults (future educators) in intergenerational support models aimed at reducing the emerging AI-related digital divide. The presentation also showcased the effects of intergenerational training conducted by education students among older adults.
