How Mode to Code, a nonprofit founded by a teenager, is teaching Bay Area seniors to use AI and avoid scams through free coding and tech literacy classes
Jacob Shaul is the kind of rising high school student who spends Saturdays playing chess and devours books by Malcom Gladwell and Angela Duckworth.
Context & Ripple Effects
Mode to Code extends the nonprofit AI-literacy effort beyond classroom-focused programs such as Code.org's TeachAI guidance for educators and AI Education Project resources for low-income schools. Its focus on Bay Area seniors makes safe use and scam recognition, not just technical skill-building, the immediate priority.
The program also belongs to a longer free-access education tradition, from 42's free coding-campus model to newer AI-literacy initiatives. It matters because it targets people who may need practical confidence and risk awareness as AI tools become part of everyday digital life.
First-order effects
- Bay Area seniors gain access to free instruction on using AI and recognizing scams, lowering the cost barrier to basic digital and AI literacy.
- Mode to Code positions its training around safe, practical technology use rather than coding alone, widening the audience it can serve.
Second-order effects
- Local community organizations serving older adults may have a clearer model for pairing AI onboarding with scam-prevention education rather than treating them as separate services.
- The program raises the value of training materials that explain AI use in accessible terms and help learners identify risky interactions, creating pressure for comparable literacy offerings to address safety directly.
Third-order effects
- If similar programs spread, AI literacy could increasingly be treated as a community-access and consumer-protection need, alongside its established role in schools and workforce education.
- The durable challenge will be whether nonprofit-led instruction can keep pace with changing AI-enabled scam tactics; the article shows the need for ongoing literacy, not a one-time introduction.
The trend: AI education is broadening from technical and school-centered instruction toward community-based programs that combine adoption skills with practical safety awareness.