NORTHFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The students — most with gray hair, some with canes, all at least in their 60s — couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“Oh, my God,” whispered a retired university professor.

“Is it infected with viruses?” wondered a confused woman scribbling notes in the second row.

A 79-year-old man in a black and white floral shirt then asked the question that was on many people’s minds: “How do you know if it’s a fake or not?”

This is how older people – many of whom have lived through the introduction of refrigerators, the transition from radio to television and the invention of the Internet – are engaging with artificial intelligence: by taking a course. In a classroom at an airy senior center in a Chicago suburb, the 12 students learned about the latest – and possibly biggest – technological leap of their lives.

And they are not alone. There are numerous such courses across the country to teach seniors how AI can change their lives and the dangers this technology poses.

“I’ve seen ice boxes become refrigerators, that’s how long I’ve been here,” said Barbara Winston, 89, who paid for the course at the North Shore Senior Center in Northfield. “And I think this is probably the biggest technological revolution I’ll see in my lifetime.”

Older people are in a unique situation with technology. Artificial intelligence offers significant benefits to seniors, from the ability to alleviate loneliness to making medical appointments easier to reach.

But there are also downsides that are particularly threatening to this older group of Americans: A number of studies have found that seniors are more vulnerable both to scams perpetrated using artificial intelligence and to believing the kind of misinformation amplified by the technology. Experts are particularly concerned about the role that deepfakes and other AI-produced misinformation could play in politics.

Winston left class to begin her own AI journey, even as others remained skeptical. When she returned home, the professor emerita downloaded books about the technology, researched the platforms she wanted to use from her kitchen table, and eventually consulted ChatGPT about how to treat a personal ailment.

“This is the beginning of my training,” she said, her floral-patterned cup of coffee beside her. “I’m not worried about my own protection. I’m too old to worry about that.”

Courses like these aim to show older early adopters the myriad ways the technology could improve their lives, but also encourage them to become skeptical about whether artificial intelligence can distort the truth.

A balanced skepticism, technology experts say, is crucial for seniors who want to interact with AI.

“It’s difficult,” said Michael Gershbein, the course instructor at Northfield. “Overall, the seniors’ distrust is good, but I don’t want them to be paralyzed by their fears and unwilling to take action online.”

The questions in his class outside Chicago ranged from the absurd to the practical to the academic. Why do so many new shoes no longer come with laces? Can AI create a multi-day itinerary for a visit to Charleston, South Carolina? What are the geopolitical implications of artificial intelligence?

Gershbein, who teaches courses on a range of technology topics, said interest in AI has skyrocketed in the past nine months. The 52-year-old teaches an AI class once or twice a week, he said, and wants to create a “safe space where (seniors) can come in and we can discuss all the topics that they may have only heard bits and pieces about, but we can summarize it all and they can ask questions.”

During a 90-minute session on a Thursday in June, Gershbein discussed deepfakes – videos that use generative artificial intelligence to make it appear as if someone said something they didn’t. When he played a few deepfakes, the seniors sat amazed. They couldn’t believe how real the fakes looked. There are widespread concerns that such videos could be used to deceive voters, especially seniors.

But the dangers facing seniors go beyond politics and range from simple misinformation on social media sites to scams that use voice-cloning technology to trick them. An AARP report released last year said Americans over 60 lose $28.3 billion annually to financial extortion schemes powered in part by artificial intelligence.

Experts at the National Council on Aging, an older adult advocacy organization founded in 1950, said the number of AI courses offered at senior centers has increased in recent years, leading to a pioneering role in digital literacy.

“There’s a myth that older adults don’t use technology. We know that’s not true,” says Dianne Stone, deputy director of the National Council on Aging, who ran a senior center in Connecticut for more than two decades. Such courses, she says, are designed to foster a “healthy skepticism” about the possibilities of technology and to give older Americans the knowledge “that not everything you hear is true. It’s good to be informed, but you kind of have to find out for yourself.”

Finding that balance can be difficult, says Siwei Lyu, a professor at the University at Buffalo, and teaching tends to either highlight the benefits of artificial intelligence or focus on its dangers.

“We need this kind of education for seniors, but our approach needs to be very balanced and well thought out,” says Lyu, who gives lectures to seniors and other groups.

Seniors who took such AI courses said they developed a clear understanding of the benefits and pitfalls of AI.

“It’s only as good as the people who program it, and users have to understand that. You have to really question it,” said Linda Chipko, a 70-year-old who took an AI course in suburban Atlanta in June.

Chipko said she took the course because she wanted to “understand” AI, but said afterwards, “It’s not for me.”

Others have even embraced the technology. Ruth Schneiderman, 77, used AI to illustrate a children’s book she was writing. This experience sparked her interest in taking the class at Northfield to learn more about the technology.

“My mother lived to be 90,” Schneiderman said, “and I learned from her that if you want to survive in this world, you have to adapt to the changes, otherwise you will be left behind.”