Guiding AI Forward: The Critical Role of Older Workers

To harness the rapidly evolving capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI), workers will need to develop new skill sets. But as with most new technologies, long-held stereotypes increase the risk that employers may overlook older workers when building workforce training programs to incorporate AI into their organizations. That would be a mistake because, as recent research shows, older workers possess the very skills most essential for the effective use of AI.

Essential skills for effective AI adoption and use

With research already having made a strong business case for recruiting, retaining, and engaging older workers more generally, a recent Urban Institute study finds that older workers’ skills will be essential to effective AI adoption and use. The study, based on interviews with business leaders, AI experts, and workplace education providers, concludes that employers will need workers with durable, transferable skills to realize the productivity gains of AI. These skills include creative problem solving, critical thinking, ethical oversight, and judgment. In other words, employers will need the skills of older workers.

AI’s emergence has created a significant demand for training. The Urban Institute’s study highlights the benefits employers can gain from training workers of all ages to use AI effectively. Because most workers are likely to learn to use AI through on-the-job training and employer instruction, employers should support AI education for all their workers, including those ages 50 and older. With adequate investment in skills, 50-plus workers are likely to become vital contributors to the oversight and implementation of AI technologies, as well as to the interpretation of AI outputs.

One misplaced assumption might be that older workers are wary of AI and AI training. Yet recent research from AARP finds that interest in AI training among older workers exceeds their participation in such training. Even when older workers do receive training, stereotypes can creep in, despite research showing that the digital skills gap between older and younger workers is narrower than stereotypes might suggest and continues to shrink.

Integrating AI tools into other forms of on-the-job training may also benefit older workers. As AI-supported learning options become more widely available and increasingly sophisticated, such tools can be tailored to job roles, learning pathways, and learning styles, empowering all workers. By helping people learn at their own pace, ask questions, and revisit concepts without embarrassment or stigma, these tools support faster skill adoption among all learners.

Barriers and opportunities

While upskilling often takes place on the job, learning how to use AI effectively is not limited to workplace training. Nevertheless, challenges arise when workers lack access to employer-based training. Jobseekers looking to expand their AI skills may not be able to afford training courses or have access to computers or broadband. Given the growing role AI is playing in the workplace, both employers and policymakers must address barriers to training to ensure all workers can participate in this new technology.

Aside from learning, AI may hold promise for older workers in other ways, such as by supporting people’s desire to continue working longer through improved working conditions. By automating physically taxing or dangerous tasks, improving work design, or supporting remote and other flexible work options, AI could enable people who might otherwise be excluded from the labor force, including those with chronic health conditions or disabilities, to continue working.

As the Urban Institute's research highlights, tapping older workers' expertise in adopting AI in a changing work landscape creates benefits that flow in multiple directions—toward employers, workers, and the economy. Failing to capture the value that older workers can bring to AI adoption and implementation would be a missed opportunity.

For more jobs data: Follow the latest AARP Research on work and jobs and access employment data in the AARP Public Policy Institute's (PPI) Employment Data Digest, PPI's monthly review of job trends for those ages 55 and over. Visit the AARP website's work and jobs section for articles on work and unemployment, and for job search resources. Visit the lifelong learning section and AARP’s Skills Builder for Work^SM for education resources.