Pro Bono Workshop

AI for Seniors

Why AI matters for seniors

For older adults, artificial intelligence is not about technology trends or market disruption. It is about preserving quality of life, maintaining a sense of autonomy, and sustaining the feeling of independence that defines dignified aging. AI chatbots and voice assistants can help seniors manage daily routines, access information in their native language, communicate with family across distances, navigate healthcare systems, and stay connected to the world — all without relying on others for every small task.

AI and life in a new country

For seniors who have emigrated — who live in countries where they were not born, where the language is different, where the bureaucracy is unfamiliar — AI becomes something more than a convenience. It becomes a bridge. AI chatbots can translate documents, explain official letters, help compose emails in the local language, and guide users through government websites. They can serve as patient, always-available conversation partners for language practice. For a person who left their homeland late in life, this kind of tool can mean the difference between isolation and participation, between dependence and self-sufficiency.

A hands-on workshop

This is not a lecture about what AI can do in theory. The workshop is entirely hands-on. Participants bring their own phones or tablets and, by the end of the session, have working AI assistants configured for their specific needs — whether that means a chatbot that speaks their language, a voice assistant that reads recipes aloud, or a tool that helps them write messages to their grandchildren. Every exercise is practical, immediately useful, and designed for people with no prior technology experience.

Proven success

The AI for Seniors workshop has been delivered to Russian-speaking communities in Israel, where it was met with genuine enthusiasm. Participants — many of them in their 70s and 80s — discovered that AI could help them read Hebrew documents, communicate with Israeli institutions, and access services that previously required help from children or grandchildren. The feedback was consistent: this was the first technology workshop that actually changed their daily life. Not because the technology was simple, but because the workshop met people where they were.

Mikael Alemu Gorsky

Mikael Alemu is an educator and researcher, and the author of two programs: Agentic Software Engineering, on building software with AI agents, and Building AI-Native Agentic Systems, on building software that thinks.

He teaches at the Holon Institute of Technology, near Tel Aviv, where Agentic Software Engineering runs as a credit-bearing course. He is an educator and researcher.

Nine published works, 76 citations. A 350-page textbook under contract with a major academic publisher.

Teaching and programs

Agentic Software Engineering — program, preprint and textbook

The discipline of structured, auditable human-agent workflows for building software. The human frames, specifies and judges. The agent executes. Nineteen modules in four parts, built on a running project called Tribunal, a web application in which agents argue opposing sides of a case and a judge agent decides. Taught for credit at the Holon Institute of Technology.

Building AI-Native Agentic Systems — program, paper and book in writing

How to build systems that hold a language model as a working component, and treat that component as what it is: stochastic, slow and metered. Fourteen modules in four parts, about seventy hours. The running project is the Observatory, a news agency that watches sources, selects what matters and publishes on a cadence.

Pro bono

AI for seniors — free workshop

Helping older adults use everyday AI tools. Delivered to Russian-speaking communities in Israel.

For older adults, artificial intelligence is about preserving quality of life, maintaining autonomy, and sustaining the feeling of independence that defines dignified aging. For seniors who have emigrated, AI becomes a bridge: it can translate documents, explain official letters, help compose emails in the local language, and guide users through government websites. The workshop has been delivered to Russian-speaking communities in Israel, where participants — many of them in their 70s and 80s — discovered that AI could help them read Hebrew documents and communicate with Israeli institutions.

Startup competitions — unpaid time

Judging and mentoring early-stage ventures. Helping teams clarify their value proposition, assess technical feasibility, and prepare for the realities of scaling an AI product.

AC/VC LinkedIn group — community

A group for developers and students working with coding agents. The community shares practical insights, code examples, tool comparisons, and honest assessments of what works in production.