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Overview

Discover what AI can do for you in this practical four-week course, from your first chatbot conversation to images, prompting and AI safety.

A four week course on Mondays - starting 2 November at 2 - 4 pm

2 November: AI overview, getting started with an AI chatbot and basic chatting

9 November: AI images – producing, editing and analysing images – and using documents

16 November: Advanced prompting and other AI tools

23 November: AI and ethics – societal implications and implications for personal use

By popular demand, this is an updated repeat of the course held in February 2026.

Preparing for an AI World

Please do join us for a repeat of this popular course introducing artificial intelligence (AI). It is intended for u3a members who have never deliberately used AI and want to experience how AI could be useful to them. If you attended the previous course, you don’t really need to attend this one, as it will cover much of the same material.

This course covers the type of AI available through AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. All these tools offer free access, and you don’t need a credit card to sign up.

If you are worried about the impact on the planet of using these chatbots, it is worth noting that using an AI chatbot is far less harmful to the planet than watching a streamed film on television.

The aim of the course is to help you become comfortable using AI chatbots, understand how they can help you and learn what you need to be aware of to use them safely. An AI chatbot is our way of tapping into the incredibly powerful, but strange, world of artificial intelligence. And yes, you really can chat with AI whilst walking the dog.

Many u3a members find that AI can help with lots of the u3a groups they attend, such as providing thought provoking questions for reading groups, critiquing copy in creative writing groups, helping do research in family history, helping to learn a new language, and, the most popular use of all – help in planning trips and holidays.

During this course you will explore how to use AI and what it can do for us as individuals and as members of the u3a. You will be able to share your ideas and concerns through Zoom or in the collaboration space where you can submit your experiences of using AI.

What is expected of attendees?

You will be expected to use and explore AI actively during the course. To do this, you will need a tablet, laptop computer, or desktop computer. You can use AI on a reasonably modern smart phone but it is very fiddly to learn on so best avoided if you can. You will need to sign up for access to a variety of AI tools. You will be expected to attend all four weeks of the course and each week to share what you have learnt and experienced.

This is a practical course.

Course schedule

The course sessions are from 2 pm to 4 pm on Mondays in November.

Each two-hour session will comprise:

· 40-minute instructor-led session followed by 15 minutes of questions and answers

· 10-minute break

· 40-minute instructor-led session followed by 15 minutes of questions and answers

Week 1 Welcome Getting started with chatting

An introduction to the course and our u3a library and having fun chatting with AI. We will also cover how to use our collaboration spaces, find the course material and sign up to use AI chatbots. We will cover both text and voice chats.

Week 2 Images and documents

This week is all about images: creating, analysing and editing them.

We will also explore documents – how you can use AI with your own documents to analyse, summarise or change their contents.

Class 3 Advanced prompting, chatbot features and other AI tools

In this class, we share tips for using AI chatbots effectively and explore other features, such as projects, searching your chat history, and personalising how your AI chatbot interacts with you.

Other AI tools will include Gemini Notebook.

Class 4 Ethical considerations and staying safe

We will provide practical tips for using AI safely and responsibly and consider the societal implications of AI, including its environmental impact, jobs, mental wellbeing, privacy and copyright.

If you feel you want to help the u3a enable as many members as possible to understand and benefit from AI and would like to join our AI Project team please contact the u3a AI Subject Advisor, Alan.

AI for Everyone - Subject Adviser and Network - u3a Subject Advisers and Subject Networks

This event is for u3a members only.