In early February, Lakshmi Katrapati learned a neighbor had been scammed out of $30,000.
She was on Facebook and saw a deepfake of Elon Musk, claiming that if she invested in an opportunity he was leading, she would get rich. She considered a video featuring Musk likely was true, and the neighbor needed the money. But it ended up a scam.
Katrapati then asked her grandparents whether they were aware of deepfakes, and quickly realized that “for my generation at least, we’re all on the AI hype. But for seniors, a lot of them don’t know or have really little knowledge what AI is.”
That realization prompted her to launch a community initiative called Word by World, which aims to make AI equitable. As a student at George Mason University, she’s visiting senior centers across the D.C. region, equipping seniors with the information they need to avoid getting scammed.
“I hope that people realize what they see online is not real a lot of the time and they don’t believe what they see,” Katrapati said. “I want to prevent cases like my neighbor.”
On Monday afternoon, about a dozen people attended Katrapati’s session at Brightview Fair Oaks in Fairfax, Virginia. Some shook their heads or verbally reacted as she described what the tech is capable of.
During the hourlong presentation, Katrapati played examples of AI-generated videos and described how to differentiate them from real ones. She offered tips for how to respond to scams, use ChatGPT and detailed an “AI Defense tool kit.”
“I just want to be aware of what artificial intelligence is all about,” resident Charlie Potock said. “Being an older person, we should be very aware of it. It’s scary.”
Katrapati has given the presentation over 30 times, often at senior community centers, so far this year. She continued during a recent summer internship in Mississippi.
In some cases, Katrapati has returned to the same community to talk more about AI, including about the history of it.
“Some of them are more suspicious of the internet now, which is good, because a lot of them before used to be trusting of scams,” Katrapati said.
Grace Mingione said she left the session hoping for even more information that could help her figure out “what’s good and what’s not good.”
“Most everyone here is alone,” Mingione said. “I’m already very cautious about anything I do, so this only makes it more important to do.”
Katrapati, meanwhile, said the sessions motivate her “to know that I can make some sort of impact in the elderly generation.”
A George Mason University student is teaching senior communities how to spot AI deepfakes 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-09-25 18:08:17
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