2026 August 18 Stepping into AI

Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimagining your life. Thanks for joining me today to talk about why AI is useful at any age. If you like what you hear today, please leave a like, subscribe, tell your friends, send me a message.

This week, we're going to be talking about how aging and AI are actually totally consistent with each other. This is kind of an unexpected topic, and I'll explain why, but I think it's relevant to us at any age as we age.

So a little insight into the reason for this topic. The New York State Legislature — I mentioned, I live in Upstate New York — has crafted what is called the New York State Health Act. It's a single-payer health insurance plan with no private insurance allowed for any covered services, and that's very important. It specifically disallows private health insurance in the state. So even if you want to pay for two health insurance policies, you can't.

And like all modern legislation, the summary and the announcement brochure really don't have a lot to do with each other. Happily, New York State is still generally pretty transparent in many things, so I could just download the text of the bills, which I did, and then I used Claude AI to unwind them, get automatic cross-references to the enabling legislation and enabling laws, and get a better picture of what's actually being proposed.

The total time involved: just under an hour. Think about that. Less than six minutes to get a cross-referenced version of the bill, with a table of contents, links to all the external references, and an analysis of its impact upon our generation of older adults. Spoiler: it's not good. Talking points for meetings and letters, and more than that. That is the power of AI.

I was simply working with an extremely competent, thorough research assistant that I've worked with for about a year. So it knows how I write, what I'm looking for, and knows that everything needs a reference — if it doesn't have a reference, don't include it. All of these things it has learned from working with me, and I can just feed it a little information and get a whole package back. That would have been a day or more at the library chasing down documents, or a morning on Google doing searches — even just a couple of years ago. This is the power available to all of us if we decide to really learn how to use it.

Last Thursday, there was an excellent editorial in the Wall Street Journal entitled "What Problems Should AI Be Solving?" It was written by Roland Fryer, who is a Harvard professor of economics and a founder of Equal Opportunity Ventures. So I had to do some reading — put on my reading glasses for this one.

In it, Mr. Fryer writes:

"I see the same mechanism every year at Harvard. I teach a class called Using Markets to Solve Social Problems. For their capstone, students identify an important social problem and build a company — the choices are revealing. Last semester, one team, led by a cancer survivor, proposed an AI-native care coordinator for cancer patients. Another team was deeply concerned that Harvard Square lacked hot cookie delivery at 3 a.m. Its solution: Hot Cookies, AI. In nearly a decade, I've never had a student say, you know what really sucks? Getting government benefits. Or coming home from prison and trying to find a job. Or running a police department with antiquated software. My students aren't selfish. Many simply have never encountered these systems. You can't have founder-market fit in a market you've never met."

I read that and thought — one of the most underrepresented groups in AI is older adults. So last night I was thinking about this article. I leave things like this on my kitchen counter so I can reread them when I'm cooking — a little weird, I know, but I'm proud of it. And I quickly came up with a list of five or six older-adult-focused apps — or "skills," as they're called in the AI world — that would have immediate use for older adults.

Things like: an app to create a document for all your lab tests with trends. Or one to track all your meds — renewal dates, number of refills remaining, instructions, warnings, and medical interactions, including foods on your diet. A diet app that tracks nutrients and offers suggestions. Online gaming communities you might find interesting. A sun-exposure app, because we have a critical lack of sun exposure — that's a whole different topic. Or an activity coordinator and calendar, so you can keep track of all sorts of things — not just doctor's appointments, but when birthdays are coming up, and what's happening in the community that might be fun to get together with friends about.

So this is what I'm going to be working on over the coming weeks. But this isn't just about me making things for you to consume — it's also about teaching you how to create things that you find useful for yourself. So I'm actually going to give you homework tonight, because I really want to hear from you: what things — on your computer, your phone, or a piece of paper — would help make your life easier? Things like a list of meds, or a way to keep track of birthdays versus shopping trips, so you remember to get that birthday present while you're out instead of having it become an emergency the next day. Think of any little "app" that would give you time to enjoy life while keeping track of all the little details that make it fun and interesting.

And so the real crux of all this: as we age, a lot of us tend to think, well, I'm kind of past learning. And I'd kind of disagree, because learning is what makes life interesting and keeps it exciting. Especially learning something like how to use AI effectively — and using it for things beyond just looking up a recipe, really using it to enhance your life. It's not difficult. It just takes a little concentration.

Like I said, I have a meeting this evening on this health plan, and I have a whole portfolio of things on my phone and on paper to bring with me, so that I'm in a position where I can say, well, isn't it true that this is also one of the aspects of that plan? And it took me less than an hour to get that all together. That's the power of AI. It's not something to replace people — it's a tool to really amplify what they can do.

So I look forward to working with you. Write me the things that you're interested in — I really want to hear, and we'll go from there.

That's it for the evening. Don't forget that we have our freebie up: the Five Pillars. It's a short video where I explain how our lives are shaped by five major influences, and how we can keep balance and adjust those as we age. So check it out — it's at our website, 7everyminute.com/5-pillars-freebie.

It's a fun topic, and it's a subtle one, because it goes a lot deeper when you actually start thinking about it than you first imagine.

Remember, one of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others. UKR7.com helps link people who help people in Ukraine, and WCK.org — World Central Kitchen — works around the world, usually in disaster areas. They're two international sites, but there are always lots of local charities in a position for you to volunteer for something right now. Remember, just a simple smile can change someone else's day for the better in ways you cannot imagine.

As always, thank you for stopping by. If you found something useful or interesting, please pass it along. Please subscribe, hit that like button, and drop me a line. And don't forget — tell me what you want to see in your life that would make things easier. Like I said, a list of meds, whatever it is, and we'll work on how we can do that together.

Have a great week. Remember to live the life that you dreamed of, because that's the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone. See you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com.

Oh, by the way — I probably should have made this clear. When you go to the Five Pillars freebie site, we'll ask you just for your email so we can keep track of who you are, and there's a place where you can submit something that's on your mind. Feel free to add any particular app, or anything, in terms of an app on your phone or whatever — anything that would make your life easier — and we'll see how we can do that with AI.